Kate Ascher is an author and was executive vice president of the

New York City Economic Development Corporation New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) is a public-benefit corporation that serves as the official economic development organization for New York City. NYCEDC gives its mission as strengthening business confidence in New York C ...

. Her 2005 book, ''The Works: Anatomy of a City'', a textual and graphic exploration of how the complicated and often overlapping

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and pri ...

of a modern city works, garnered wide discussion and praise when it was published. She left the NYCEDC in 2007 for

Vornado Realty Trust Vornado Realty Trust is an American real estate investment trust formed in Maryland in 1982, with its primary office in New York City. The company invests in office buildings and street retail in Manhattan. History Two Guys The origins of the ...

. She formerly held positions with the

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, (PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ) is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York (state), New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate c ...

and in corporate finance. In the wake of the 2007 New York City steam explosion Ascher was quoted by several media outlets on the history and nature of utility steam use. "We are an older city with infrastructure that was sophisticated in its time," she told the

New York Sun ''The New York Sun'' is an American conservative news website and former newspaper based in Manhattan, New York. From 2009 to 2021, it operated as an (occasional and erratic) online-only publisher of political and economic opinion pieces, as we ...

. "In any one of those systems, there is older pipe and newer pipe." Asher is an Associate Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation.

Education

Ascher received her M.Sc. and Ph.D. in government from the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

and her B.A. in political science from

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Alumni of the London School of Economics Brown University alumni 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers American women non-fiction writers 21st-century American women writers {{US-nonfiction-writer-stub