Role of a Civil Engineer in the development of a country

Civil engineering is the most ancient field of engineering that humans have ever developed since it is dealing with the construction and the development of the infrastructure.

Broadly speaking, the civil engineering field is considered as an engineering field related only to the construction of buildings. However, it is a much diversified engineering area including a lot of specializations which gives to the civil engineer a wide range of roles.

 Firstly, the basic work of a civil engineer is to design structures. In fact, he has to deal with different types of structure such as houses, factories, bridges, dams, etc. Moreover, these structures could be either in reinforced concrete, in steel or in timber. In fact, there is no limitation since a civil engineer has good knowledge in mathematics, physics, modelling and material sciences. This is the most classical specialization of a civil engineer who should provide designs for structures that ensure both rigidity and safety.

For instance, bridge engineering has become nowadays an entire specialisation of civil engineering as bridges are considered very essential in the development of modern cities in order to strengthen their road network and enhance their aesthetic appearance too as shown in the photo below.

Furthermore, a civil engineer must design the foundation system of the buildings and take care of their interaction with the sub-grade. This is commonly called “Geotechnical engineering” which is a recent specialization on the civil engineering field and is keeping improving during these last years. Due to this discipline, we can deal with the interaction between structure and the soil, and in some cases improve the properties of the soil in order to enhance its bearing ratio. The tunnel engineering, as shown is also a good illustration of the geotechnical engineering and has allowed developing many railways and roads all over the world and as a result to promote the global economy. However, the geotechnical engineering is essential for the stability and durability of constructions.

Otherwise, a civil engineer has to come up with solutions to the problems related to the urban life. This is another area of specialisation called ^“Urban planning” which aims to organise the development of cities. This includes also the road and traffic engineering which consists on designing the roads, the railways, the highways and also managing the flow of traffic in cities.

In the other hand, the hydraulic field consists also another area of specialization for civil engineers. In fact, they have to design dams, to ensure the supply of drinkable water and install water treatment plants.  

Overall, the civil engineering job may be practiced in various ways and specializations that all aim to carry out the development of the city’s infrastructure and constructions. Without Civil Engineering no development can ever be done. It’s the root of all development.

Nowadays, it has become very developed due to the use of sophisticated tools and software and which facilitate the work and allow engineers to win new challenges.