ABSTRACT
A view from above a high-rise residential construction site in a city such as New York, London, or Hong Kong immediately calls to mind the purposeful behavior of an ant colony. A hundred or more workers are scurrying from task to task, in what appears to be chaotic patterns over the course of an eight-hour day. But every two days a new floor will appear and the structure will move that much closer to the sky. Questions arise: where do the workers come from; how are they organized to execute the work? What are the challenges facing those who need construction workers?
