Architecture × Civil Engineering — did they move closer or drift apart?
Year-by-year thematic distance between the open access papers of the two fields
(OpenAlex taxonomy: subfields Architecture and
Civil and Structural Engineering),
measured over the research topic distributions of each corpus.
architecture papers15,764 OA 2015–2026
civil eng. papers329,882 OA 2015–2026
relative proximity 2015–20171%
relative proximity 2023–20252%
change+0.2 pp
Verdict — THE DISTANCE HELD. Between 2015–2017 and 2023–2025, the distance remained stable (+0.2 pp)
(direct cosine .014 → .016). Relative proximity divides the similarity between fields by the
control ceiling of the same year — the similarity between adjacent years of the same field — so the reading is
immune to publication growth and to vocabulary drift.
1 · Raw similarity (cosine) and control ceilings
Red line = similarity between ARQ and CIVIL in that year. Dashed = similarity between
adjacent years of the SAME field (the realistic maximum to expect from any comparison). Convergence
is the red line rising toward the ceiling.
2 · Proximity relative to the ceiling — the answer to the question
ARQ×CIVIL cosine ÷ mean ceiling of the year. It is this series that decides
“moved closer / drifted apart / held”.
3 · Volume of papers per year (context)
2015
859
2016
922
2017
1,065
2018
1,169
2019
1,163
2020
1,095
2021
1,053
2022
1,022
2023
1,224
2024
1,510
2025
2,246
2026
2,436
2015
15,381
2016
17,187
2017
18,593
2018
20,858
2019
24,029
2020
26,611
2021
28,659
2022
30,963
2023
35,503
2024
37,161
2025
41,990
2026
32,947
4 · The shared ground — common topics (2023–2026)
The 15 topics most present in both fields. “Distance” = |CIVIL share − ARQ share|;
the last column compares it with 2015–2017: ▾ closer = the shares converged on that topic.
OpenAlex topic
% ARQ
% CIVIL
distance
movement
Innovations in Concrete and Construction Materials
3.8%
2.7%
1.1%
▴ apart
Seismic and Structural Analysis of Tall Buildings
2.1%
1.8%
0.3%
▾ closer
Structural Analysis and Optimization
1.6%
2.4%
0.8%
▾ closer
BIM and Construction Integration
4.8%
0.9%
3.9%
▴ apart
Architectural and Urban Studies
0.8%
0.7%
0.0%
· stable
3D Surveying and Cultural Heritage
1.7%
0.7%
1.0%
· stable
Civil and Structural Engineering Research
0.5%
1.9%
1.4%
▾ closer
Structural Analysis of Composite Materials
0.6%
0.5%
0.2%
· stable
Structural Engineering and Vibration Analysis
0.4%
5.1%
4.7%
▾ closer
Hygrothermal properties of building materials
0.4%
0.6%
0.2%
· stable
Material Selection and Properties
0.4%
0.9%
0.5%
· stable
Advanced Materials and Mechanics
0.6%
0.3%
0.2%
· stable
Building Energy and Comfort Optimization
1.5%
0.3%
1.2%
▴ apart
Topology Optimization in Engineering
0.3%
2.3%
2.0%
· stable
Earthquake and Disaster Impact Studies
0.3%
0.3%
0.0%
▾ closer
5 · What sets each field apart (2023–2026)
architecture markers
topic
% ARQ
% CIVIL
Concrete and Cement Materials Research
0.0%
15.1%
Innovative concrete reinforcement materials
0.0%
12.1%
Geotechnical and construction materials studies
0.1%
11.0%
Infrastructure Maintenance and Monitoring
0.0%
9.8%
Urban Transport Systems Analysis
0.0%
7.4%
Structural Health Monitoring Techniques
0.0%
7.0%
Geotechnical Engineering and Soil Stabilization
0.0%
7.0%
Seismic Performance and Analysis
0.0%
6.7%
Asphalt Pavement Performance Evaluation
0.0%
6.6%
Structural Behavior of Reinforced Concrete
0.0%
6.4%
civil engineering markers
topic
% ARQ
% CIVIL
Architecture and Computational Design
64.2%
0.3%
Architecture, Modernity, and Design
38.3%
0.0%
Architecture and Art History Studies
12.1%
0.0%
Design Education and Practice
7.2%
0.0%
Architecture, Art, Education
6.7%
0.0%
Architecture, Design, and Social History
6.6%
0.0%
Real estate and construction management
6.5%
0.0%
Engineering Education and Pedagogy
5.5%
0.0%
Urban Design and Spatial Analysis
5.1%
0.0%
Architecture and Cultural Influences
4.5%
0.0%
6 · And BIM? Share of papers with a BIM topic in each field
Percentage of papers whose topics include BIM/building information (dominant BIM
topic). ARQ: 2.8% in 2015–2017 → 5.0% in 2023–2025 ·
CIVIL: 0.7% → 0.9%. The per-topic detail is in the
BIM heatmap.