By 2050, an estimated 75% of the infrastructure that societies will depend on does not yet exist, reflecting an estimated $139 trillion of investment over the next 25 years. Conventional wisdom regards these forthcoming water networks, energy grids, and data centers as passive backbones of economic life. Centralized challenges this assumption, arguing that infrastructure is an active system that shapes patterns of governance. By regulating the flow of materials, orchestrating the exchange of information, and controlling how resources are stored, infrastructure consolidates authority and centralizes bureaucracy.

Drawing on archival documents, engineering blueprints, financial records, and interviews, Centralized examines two millennia of transformative projects across the United States, China, Turkey, and Russia. From the ancient Dujiangyan irrigation canal to the creation of TCP/IP protocols, the book highlights a shared logic of design, finance, and administration that unites hydraulic systems with contemporary digital networks.