Civil engineering deals with designing, construction and maintenance of structures, fabricated or otherwise. It is one of the oldest engineering disciplines. It includes structural engineering, surveying, material engineering and a lot more. The methods involved in civil engineering have changed a lot in the recent times.

Constructional civil engineering considers many factors while building structures, like, earthquakes, wind, light, environment, etc. Geotechnical engineering considers the land beneath the structure, be it a building, bridge or any other structure. Material engineering deals with the kind of material used in construction, like concrete, metal, glass etc. It involves calculation of stress that each material can take and designs will be done accordingly. These factors become very crucial when large structures are being planned.Transportation engineering is another branch of civil engineering which deals with designing, construction and maintenance of highways, airports, railroads, roads, harbours, bridges, etc. Land surveying is something every civil engineer will have to know which traditionally involved used of optical instruments, which have now been replaces, by computerized systems. Surveying involves measurement of slopes, horizontal and vertical deviations, etc.

     Civil engineering involved in construction has undergone a tremendous change since the ancient times where masons built buildings by hand and it was very time consuming. But nowadays with the availability of steel and concrete, building with hundreds of storey are built in a relatively short time by using automated mixers and cranes. And modern technology has allowed the building of breathtaking stable structures and also demolition can be done using explosives in such a manner that neighbouring building will not be affected.