Visioning: The Future of Civil Engineering

ASCE'S first Strategic Plan, adopted by the Board of Direction April 28, 1985, states “The Plan is designed to anticipate the future rather than react to it, and to keep ASCE in a leadership role in addressing the challenges and opportunities facing the profession in the years ahead.” The Strategic Plan goes on to state that the mission of ASCE is “to enhance the quality of life worldwide by advancing professional knowledge and improving the practice of civil engineering in the service to humanity.” ASCE's Strategic Plan starts with this mission and develops goals and objectives to be achieved in a one‐to‐five‐year time frame. Visioning has no definition of who we are, what we are, or what we want to be; it looks to the long term—10, 20, or 30 years hence—and it studies change. How has civil engineering changed in the past 25 years? Is it continuing to change?, and What will civil engineering be 25 years from now? This paper takes a look at the past, present, and future of civil engineering; studies change; and hopes to stimulate discussion and debate on the role of ASCE in the 21st century.