Sustainability in civil engineering education: why, what, when, where and how

Drawing on 12 years of experience in leading engineering programmes for sustainability in a UK university, the authors take a wide view of the broad range of skills young civil engineers need to deliver more effectively the projects they are involved in. These include dealing with complexity, uncertainty, environmental limits, change, people, trade-offs, other disciplines and whole-life costs. In short, the paper asks: What education does the next generation of civil engineers need to act sustainability in what Schon has been memorably called ‘the swamp’ of professional practice? The paper examines the fundamental principles all engineers should be guided by, the optimum points to discuss such issues in engineers' educational formation, how sustainability in the curricula can be linked to civil engineering practice and specific examples of teaching strategies and pedagogies that the authors have found to be effective. A brief review of UK and international best practice in demonstrating the progress that has already been made towards these goals is also presented.