A modern megalopolis functions like an interlaced design of independent networks. New York is a textbook case. New Yorkers still remember the huge power failure in 2003. The “city that never sleeps” was plunged into darkness for hours causing total disruption to a system where, for example, buses, the subway and traffic lights are meticulously regulated in relation to one another. A visit to the city’s electricity, telephone and traffic departments, and the New York subway interconnection points enables us to measure the complexity of urban management.
