While engineers and surveyors are not urban planners, they are often engaged in urban development. Therefore, a high degree of competence in civil engineering specialties such as surveying and mapping, highway and transportation engineering, water resources engineering, environmental engineering, and, particularly, municipal engineering requires an understanding of urban development problems and urban planning objectives, principles, and practices. With this in mind, City Planning for Civil Engineers, Environmental Engineers, and Surveyors focuses on areas of urban planning with which civil and environmental engineers and surveyors are most likely to come into contact or conflict, in which engineers and surveyors may be required to participate, and for which engineers may be required to provide necessary leadership.

The text stresses basic concepts and principles of practice involved in urban planning as most widely practiced, particularly in small and medium-sized communities. It introduces engineering students to land-use planning as a foundation for infrastructure systems planning and development. It also presents plan implementation devices such as zoning, land subdivision control, official mapping, and capital improvement programming. It describes the factors affecting good land subdivision design and improvement. In addition, the text illustrates the importance of good mapping and control surveys for planning purposes. Written from the perspective that cities are social and economic as well as physical entities, the book offers a historical context for urban planning.

There are a large number of texts on the subject of urban planning, but most generally do not address in any comprehensive way the engineering problems encountered in urban planning.