Drawing on field visits, lectures, and exchange materials collected during the 2025 Tongji University study program on sustainable development in German civil engineering, this paper synthesizes and analyzes Germany’s experience in sustainable civil engineering from three perspectives: the reuse of existing buildings and industrial resources, interdisciplinary integration and technological innovation, and the implementation of multidimensional sustainability concepts in engineering management. The analysis indicates that Germany has gradually developed a practice-oriented pathway characterized by resource circularity as the foundation, interdisciplinary collaboration and technological innovation as the driving forces, and whole-process management together with continuous improvement as the institutional support. This pathway demonstrates a strong degree of systematic integration, coordination, and long-term orientation. In view of the development needs of civil engineering in China, the paper argues that localized efforts should focus on improving resource circulation systems, promoting interdisciplinary collaboration and the translation of technological achievements, and refining engineering management mechanisms that balance multiple objectives. The study also contributes to discussions on sustainable civil engineering in China and related educational and research practices. Meanwhile, from the perspective of practice-oriented education, the paper discusses possible pathways for transforming overseas engineering field-study outcomes into course cases, project-based learning tasks, and research training resources, thereby providing references for the sustainable development of civil engineering in China and related educational and teaching practices.