Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that
deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and
naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings.
Civil engineering is the oldest engineering discipline after military engineering, and it was defined
to distinguish non-military engineering from military engineering. It is
traditionally broken into several sub-disciplines including environmental engineering, geotechnical engineering, geophysics,
geodesy,
control engineering, structural engineering, biomechanics,
nanotechnology,
transportation engineering, earth science,
atmospheric sciences, forensic engineering, municipal or
urban engineering, water resources engineering, materials
engineering, coastal engineering,
surveying,
and engineering. Civil engineering takes place on all levels: in the public
sector from municipal through to national governments, and in the private
sector from individual homeowners through to international companies.