The fifth installment of our Ethics in Civil Engineering series discusses the ethical concerns that arise from mega-events like the Olympics.

From the Oxford Dictionary of Sports Studies, mega-events are defined as “large-scale cultural events that have usually at least a national profile and impact, and often an international one, and that are organized on a larger scale than routine fixtures in the sporting calendar. In sport, the Olympic Games are the epitome of the mega-event."

The fourth installment of our Ethics in Civil Engineering series takes a critical look at the enforcement side of traffic safety.

From Vision Zero Network: "Vision Zero is a strategy to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries, while increasing safe, healthy, equitable mobility for all. Vision Zero starts with the ethical belief that everyone has the right to move safely in their communities, and that system designers and policy makers share the responsibility to ensure safe systems for travel."

​The overarching goal of Vision Zero is to reduce traffic fatalities to zero by treating them as preventable. The foundation of many Vision Zero plans focus on the five E’s: engineering, education, encouragement, evaluation, and enforcement.

But that last E raises some issues.

In the third installment of our Ethics in Civil Engineering series, we discuss some of the ethical issues inherent in our transportation systems.

Transportation systems are woven into the fabric of our communities and their prosperity. We must always be considering the different levels at which our transportation systems serve different communities and how we can work towards reliable transportation for all.

The second installment in our Ethics in Civil Engineering series takes a look at environmental racism.

From greenaction.org, the factors that culminate into environmental racism are "the institutional rules, regulations, policies or government and/or corporate decisions that deliberately target certain communities for locally undesirable land uses and lax enforcement of zoning and environmental laws, resulting in communities being disproportionately exposed to toxic and hazardous waste based upon race."

So how exactly does it manifest?