Since most of social infrastructure in Japan was built during the period 1960-1980, we are now entering the period where aging facilities that have been in service for more than 50 years will increase rapidly, and the maintenance and management of these facilities has become a long-term social problem. Though civil engineers have been making great efforts to solve this problem, there still remain many unsolved issues. In this special issue, we try to develop arguments by posing two important questions. First, whether the reason that this problem remains unsolved in spite of the awareness of its importance, is that the positioning and evaluation of maintenance which regards social infrastructure such as road infrastructure, as assets that requires maintenance is unclear? Secondly, what kind of message from the field of civil engineering should be conveyed to the public, in order to obtain public understanding and cooperation, considering that effective systems and finances are required for proper maintenance of social infrastructure which is a valuable asset of the public?

It is intended that discussions and recommendations in this special issue or in various committees of academic societies would become opportunities for public discussions beyond the civil engineering field, and bring about tangible results beneficial to society.