Taking advantage of adaptivity in the field of civil engineering is an ongoing research topic. Integration of adaptive elements in the load-bearing structure is already well established in many other engineering fields. First investigations promise large material saving potentials also in the field of civil engineering, especially when it comes to high-rise buildings or wide spanned structures like roofs or bridges. In times of emission problems and shortage of materials, the potentials of adaptive civil structures open various new possibilities. In the design and optimization process of adaptive civil structures, we address the differences between classical approaches for passive systems and new practices considering adaptivity. By using a suitable actuator placement, it is possible to manipulate the displacements of the structure as well as the force distribution within the structure. Both material and energy savings can be accomplished with an integrated design of the adaptive structure taking into account the actuation, suitable combination of structural design and actuator placement. For demonstration of the differences in the design process and in the resulting optimized structure, we use a small case study on a truss structure, which is inspired by a high-rise building, and consider static loads.