Introduction to sustainable infrastructure engineering design Civil engineering is a profession that has a distinct focus on the design of infrastructure systems. There are major differences between the characteristics of the infrastructure design problems that civil engineers solve and the problems examined by other engineering disciplines which tend to emphasize the design of smaller items produced for short term use. Beginning students in civil engineering should be made aware of these distinctions and the types of systems civil engineers design so that they can begin to think about the problems associated with them. This is the starting point for evolving into professional civil engineers whose area of expertise is design of the civil works infrastructure that supports modern societies.