Structural control has been comprehensively studied over the world as a multidisciplinary research field. The present work is motivated by an attempt to give a common frame to the recent research and applications of structural control technology in civil engineering across Europe. They include novel passive dampers, functional materials and semi‐active dampers, active control systems, and their performance investigations. Design methods for the vibrations reduction of buildings, bridges, and wind turbines are discussed with reference to case studies. Control algorithms and dimension reduction techniques are also studied. Adaptation strategies and techniques based on the potential offered by piezoelectricity are reviewed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.