How does civil engineering have such a wide-ranging impact on our daily lives, from water and electricity to roads and railroads?

This article explains how civil engineering permeates our lives through a day in the life of Mr. A. It highlights the fact that key infrastructure, from the supply of water and electricity to roads, bridges, railways, and subways, are designed and built by civil engineers.

 

To see how civil engineering relates to our daily lives, let’s take a look at a typical day in the life of Mr. A.
As you shower, wash your face, use tap water, and shave with an electric razor in the morning, consider that your water and electricity supply comes from a multi-purpose dam built by civil engineers. People build dams to harness the natural resource of water, and from there, water travels through water intake towers, water production facilities, and water mains to reach your home. This entire process would not be possible without civil engineering. Dams also provide water for industrial and agricultural purposes. Civil engineers build hydropower facilities and design and build transmission towers to bring electricity to homes. In the modern world, electricity is also supplied by nuclear power plants, and it is well known that the design and construction of nuclear power plants also use advanced civil engineering techniques.
People drive to the subway station on their way to work. The roads they drive on are a product of civil engineering. It involves everything from surveying and predicting traffic to planning routes, to designing lanes and pavements. Traffic signs, signaling systems, and traffic control are studied, designed, and installed by traffic engineering, a branch of civil engineering.
Skyscrapers, stadiums, and other city landmarks that you see from your car window are also part of civil engineering. Underpasses, overpasses, and bridges are also the result of the planning, design, and construction of civil engineers. As Mr. A crosses the Han River, he takes a moment to admire the beauty of the bridges that span the river as well as their usefulness. Especially in the planning and design of structures such as bridges, the aesthetics of harmonizing with the surrounding environment is an important consideration. Therefore, civil engineers must also have an aesthetic sense to create artistic sculptures.
Mr. A parks his car in a parking lot near a subway station and takes the subway. The design and construction of the subway was also done by civil engineers. This course brings together civil engineers from specialized fields such as soil and foundation engineering, tunnel engineering, structural engineering, etc. Safety is the most important factor when planning a public transportation system like the metro. In order to provide fast and safe transportation for citizens and protect lives, civil engineers sometimes put their own lives on the line. The fact that electric trains run along subway tracks built by civil engineers, using electricity from power plants built by civil engineers, shows that civil engineering is a technology for the people.
When the trains come out onto the surface, they pass over bridges and elevated railways, just like roads. These were also created by civil engineers.
Riding the subway, passing through the Han River Bridge, and seeing the river flowing by and people relaxing on the banks on both sides of the river reminds us of the efforts of civil engineers to regulate the flow of the river, prevent flood damage, and utilize the river as a resource. It’s a combination of several civil engineering disciplines, including water resources engineering, hydrology, and river engineering.
Mr. A travels to Busan on KTX for his business trip. The KTX runs along railroad tracks built by civil engineers. Railroads are the product of a comprehensive set of civil engineering skills, including surveying, geotechnical engineering, tunnel engineering, and bridge engineering. Surveyors provide the basis for route planning, so that the conditions on the ground are reproduced on the drawings. Conventional surveying instruments such as plates and transits are used, as well as high-tech equipment such as electro-optical distance meters, and sometimes modern methods such as aerial photogrammetry.
The overall use of the land, the surrounding industry and demographics, and future development plans are also taken into account when deciding on a rail line. The construction of railroad bridges is essential when it”s necessary to cross rivers or cross between mountains. This is where structural engineers play a major role. Geotechnical and hydraulic engineers are also essential, as they provide important data about the ground conditions and water currents where the piers will be installed. While the bridges built are important as part of the railroad, the aesthetics of the bridges cannot be neglected. A beautiful bridge can be a great tourist resource in itself, providing visual pleasure for citizens.
As you can see, civil engineering provides facilities that are essential to human life, such as bridges, buildings, roads, dams, ports, water and sewage facilities, subways, power plant construction, and environmental structures. In other words, the goal of civil engineering is to improve human living standards. Many civil engineers are working on construction sites, design offices, research centers, and government agencies under the mission of expanding social overhead capital (SOC) facilities. Civil engineering has played an important role in building various aspects of human life. It has also influenced many of the subdivisions of the profession. Because of this, it can be said that civil engineering is engineering for the sustenance of human life and the convenience of civic life.
While most other engineering disciplines benefit engineers by producing products that are then marketed and sold to consumers, the products created by civil engineers, such as roads, ports, airports, railroads, bridges, water and sewer systems, and dams, are essential to human life and are not directly marketed. Citizens can use these facilities almost free of charge. Therefore, civil engineering can be considered “good engineering” that makes human life convenient, comfortable, and safe.
Just as the beauty of a painting or sculpture is behind the efforts of the painter and sculptor, the planning, design, and construction of bridges, tunnels, and railroads is behind the sweat and hard work of civil engineers. Many civil engineering sites are located in mountainous or remote areas, and construction can take months or even years. As a result, construction engineers often have to live away from their families for long periods of time. Just like sailors sailing at sea or crews on offshore fishing vessels, civil engineers who miss their families, live in uncomfortable conditions, and sweat the sweat of construction make our lives more convenient and comfortable.