Kate Ascher is an author and was executive vice president of the New York City Economic Development Corporation.
Her 2005 book, The Works: Anatomy of a City,[1] a textual and graphic exploration of how the complicated and often overlapping infrastructure of a modern city works, garnered wide discussion and praise when it was published.
She formerly held positions with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and in corporate finance.
"We are an older city with infrastructure that was sophisticated in its time," she told the New York Sun.
"[2] Asher is an Associate Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation.