ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a historical overview of the evolution of civil engineering that has been taking place alongside the constantly evolving nature of urbanization. It describes the role that infrastructure plays in shaping how civil engineering perceives the urban. The chapter outlines the key issues that currently affect engineering projects, as well as the transformations that have been occurring in the civil engineering profession in order to better engage with projects within urban settings. In contemporary cities, however, civil engineers encounter a new family of engineering challenges that are of a different nature to the ones associated with the engagement with a single construction project. Based on the urban disaster resilience definition, infrastructure systems or entire cities are resilient if they exhibit minimal probabilities of failure, damage received, and time required for recovery after a disruptive event. Gaining an understanding of such interdependencies and the mode of potential failure for civil infrastructure systems is a key priority for urban engineering.
