The Best Infrastructure Documentaries

How Things Work - 60 free documentaries about infrastructure.

Start with The Hidden Engineering of Runways (19 min, Practical Engineering), then Why Are Cooling Towers Shaped Like That? (20 min, Practical Engineering). All 60 documentaries here are free to watch from their makers' official uploads. To read deeper, the top-rated book on infrastructure is Infrastructure by Brian Hayes.

• The Hidden Engineering of Runways (19 min, Practical Engineering)
• Why Are Cooling Towers Shaped Like That? (20 min, Practical Engineering)
• What's Under Your Feet in New York City? (23 min, Practical Engineering)
• Traffic Lights Are So Much Weirder Than You Realize (18 min, Be Smart)
• Crumbling Superpower: America's Fatal Infrastructure Crisis (53 min, ENDEVR)
• The Los Angeles Aqueduct is Wild (23 min, Practical Engineering)
• The Logistics of Evacuating Afghanistan (21 min, Wendover Productions)
• Behind a 1,522-Mile Highway Connecting Alaska to the Yukon | Modern Marvels (S9, E4) (45 min, HISTORY)
• What It's Really Like To Work In To One Of The World's Busiest Transport Systems | The Tube (23 min, Spark)
• The $1.2 Trillion Plan to Rebuild America (9 min, The B1M)
• The Incredible Logistics Behind Corn Farming (18 min, Wendover Productions)
• The Simple Genius of the Interstate Highway System (19 min, Wendover Productions)
• Why Roads Get Washboards (18 min, Practical Engineering)
• The Logistics of Fruit (21 min, Wendover Productions)
• Why Japanese Railways Win (21 min, Wendover Productions)
• The Logistics of German Reunification (21 min, Wendover Productions)
• The Failed Logistics of Hurricane Katrina (20 min, Wendover Productions)
• The Incredible Logistics Behind Weather Forecasting (22 min, Wendover Productions)
• How City Water Purification Works: Drinking and Wastewater (12 min, Animagraffs)
• Egypt's Busiest Railway Station | Ramses Station, Cairo (53 min, Free Documentary)
• Why Does Road Construction Take So Long? (10 min, Practical Engineering)
• The Surprising Efficiency of Canal Locks (11 min, Practical Engineering)
• Why Airport Security Suddenly Got Better (13 min, Real Engineering)
• What Is It Like To Work On The London Underground? | The Tube (23 min, Spark)
• Hawaii's Logistics Problem (25 min, Wendover Productions)
• The Absurd Logistics of Concert Tours (15 min, Wendover Productions)
• The World's Most Useful Airport (47 min, Wendover Productions)
• The Hidden Engineering Behind the Falkirk Wheel (15 min, Practical Engineering)
• What Sewage Treatment and Brewing Have in Common (13 min, Practical Engineering)
• How Sewers Work (feat. Fake Poop) (12 min, Practical Engineering)
• The Logistics of Natural Gas (19 min, Wendover Productions)
• How to Build a Road (21 min, Wendover Productions)
• The Incredible Logistics of Grocery Stores (17 min, Wendover Productions)
• How Are Highways Designed? (12 min, Practical Engineering)
• How Firefly is Revolutionizing the Logistics of Spaceflight (49 min, Real Engineering)
• The Logistics of Filming Avengers (13 min, Wendover Productions)
• When Infrastructure Gets Hacked (15 min, Practical Engineering)
• Why Some Roads Are Made of Styrofoam (16 min, Practical Engineering)
• The Most Mindblowing Infrastructure in My City (9 min, Practical Engineering)
• Inside Chicago's $8.5BN Airport Rebuild (8 min, The B1M)
• The Incredible Logistics of the Tokyo Olympics (18 min, Wendover Productions)
• The Insane Logistics of Shutting Down the Cruise Industry (17 min, Wendover Productions)
• The Logistics of Disaster Response (15 min, Wendover Productions)
• Distributing the COVID Vaccine: The Greatest Logistics Challenge Ever (15 min, Wendover Productions)
• The Super-Fast Logistics of Delivering Blood By Drone (14 min, Wendover Productions)
• The Insane Logistics of Formula 1 (9 min, Wendover Productions)
• How to Design Impenetrable Airport Security (14 min, Wendover Productions)
• How to Fix Traffic Forever (11 min, Wendover Productions)
• How Do Traffic Signals Work? (13 min, Practical Engineering)
• The Terrible Design of Newark Airport (17 min, Wendover Productions)
• The Simple Genius of NYC’s Water Supply System (16 min, Wendover Productions)
• Designing the Perfect Airport Runway (15 min, Real Engineering)
• The Logistics of Covid-19 Testing (14 min, Wendover Productions)
• The Logistics of the International Space Station (12 min, Wendover Productions)
• Why China Is so Good at Building Railways (12 min, Wendover Productions)
• How Airports Make Money (11 min, Wendover Productions)
• Which Country Are International Airports In? (10 min, Wendover Productions)
• The Logistics of the US Census (13 min, Wendover Productions)
• The Logistics of Living in Antarctica (12 min, Wendover Productions)
• The NFL's Logistics Problem (14 min, Wendover Productions)

Top-Rated Books About Infrastructure

1. Infrastructure by Brian Hayes - View on Amazon
2. Ninety Percent of Everything by Rose George - View on Amazon