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Land-Based Civil Engineering

Land-Based Civil Engineering

Land-Based Civil Engineering includes the design, construction, and maintenance of engineering projects that provide physical public infrastructure, including highways, dams, and utility lines.

CMap

City planning refers to the development of guidelines, integrating landuse and transportation planning, to improve the economic, social, and structural functioning of cities. Construction codes and regulations control the location, number, and development of construction projects, including buildings, homes, and coastal structures. Contact Uses, such as biological additions, physical damage, and biological harvesting, are activities in which humans create pressures through direct contact with the ecosystem. Dam Construction involves the construction and maintenance of dams in order to block and retain flowing water, or alter water flow for hydroelectric power generation. Discharges are the intentional or unintentional distribution of chemicals, debris, or other pollution, into the environment as a consequence of human activities. Dredging is the process of excavating material from an area to maintain ship channels and harbors for safe navigation. Ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems . Infrastructural policies are responses, including zoning, codes, or regulations, that impact the distribution and functioning of socio-economic sectors that provide infrastructure. Infrastructural sectors provide the physical, organizational, and technical support for the economy to function, including construction, utilities, transportation, finance, manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, and technical services. Land-Based Civil Engineering includes the design, construction, and maintenance of engineering projects that provide physical public infrastructure, including highways, dams, and utility lines. Landscape Changes are alterations of the natural landscape through human activities, including coastal development, shoreline armoring, impervious surfaces, deforestation, or soil disturbance, which can alter water flow patterns and lead to pollutant runoff into coastal systems. Landscape conservation and restoration refers to efforts to protect and restore disturbed natural landscapes, such as through hydroseeding or beach renourishment. Landuse management pertains to responses that determine the use of land for development and construction. Permitting is documentation required for new construction and remodeling/renovation, in compliance with national, regional, and local zoning and building codes. The Reef Ecosystem includes a suite of abiotic variables that form the physical and chemical environment. Physical Damage to reef habitat and wetlands can occur from vessel groundings, dredging, trampling, boat movement, anchor drops, trawling, and fishing gear. Pressures are human activities that create stress on the environment. The state of the Reef Ecosystem is the condition, in terms of quantity and quality, of the abiotic and biotic components including physical, chemical, and biological variables. Reef Life is the abundance, distribution, and condition of the biological components of the coral reef ecosystem. Regulating Services are benefits obtained from ecosystem processes that regulate the environment, including erosion regulation, natural hazard regulation, and climate regulation. Responses are actions taken by groups or individuals in society and government to prevent, compensate, ameliorate or adapt to changes in Ecosystem Services or their perceived value. Road Construction includes constructions of roads, highways, interstates, airport runways, and other physical infrastructure to aid transportation. Shoreline Protection is the attenuation of wave energy by reefs that protects coastal communities against shoreline erosion and flooding during storms, hurricanes, and tsunamis that can cause property damage and loss of life. Socio-Economic Drivers include the sectors that fulfill human needs for Food & Raw Materials, Water, Shelter, Health, Culture, and Security, and the Infrastructure that supports the sectors. Transportation management includes policies, regulations, and zoning designed to control the distribution and intensity of transportation networks, including roads and shipping channels, and vehicles, including cars, boats, and ships. Utility Line Construction is the construction and maintenance of utility lines to supply power, telecommunications, and water for public use. Waterborne discharges include direct and indirect discharges of pollutants into the aquatic environment, including chemicals, nutrients, sediment, and pathogens.

CMap Description

Land-based civil engineering creates pressures primarily through activities related to the construction and maintenance of physical infrastructure, leading to landscape changes (including devegetation, impervious surfaces, and soil disturbance) that can affect rates of pollutant runoff. In coastal areas, development may require shoreline armoring or dredging activities, which can directly impact coastal vegetation and alter patterns of waterflow. Civil engineering & construction projects and the physical infrastructure they create benefit from shoreline protection, as well as indirectly from other ecosystem services that improve the well-being of sectors (such as tourism & recreation) that drive coastal development. City planning can reduce impacts of development through use of construction codes, permitting and zoning. Transportation policies can influence location and intensity of road development. Landscape restoration, such as hydroseeding, may be used to reduce runoff along roads or other disturbed areas.

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