Publisher's Synopsis
The Brunel Lectures span the last ten years and provide a diversified review of "work in progress" in the theory and practice of macro-engineering. This book is an edited compendium of these lectures and contains contributions from leading figures in the field.;The introduction reports on the development of key elements for a power transmission satellite which will ultimately make the exchange of power between distant countries a feasible proposition. The book looks at closed system habitats - a way of applying advanced technology to effect desert rehabilitation; Osaka's financially successful use of artificial islands as an instrument of offshore development, large scale canals including the Grand Canal of China and the possibility of colonization of the Moon.;The sociological, financial, practical, philosophical and theoretical implications of macro-engineering are balanced in a book which puts the rapidly developing interdisciplinary area into perspective.
