Municipal or Urban Engineering

Municipal engineering is concerned with municipal infrastructure. This involves specifying, designing, constructing and maintaining streets, sidewalks, water supply networks, sewers, street lighting, municipal solid waste management and disposal, storage depots for various bulk materials used for maintenance and public works, such as salt and sand, public parks and bicycle paths. In the case of underground utility networks, it may also include the civil portion of the local distribution networks of electrical and telecommunication services. It can also include the optimizing of garbage collection and bus service networks. Some of these disciplines overlap with other civil engineering specialities; however, municipal engineering focusses on the coordination of these infrastructure networks and services, in as much as they are often built simultaneously and managed by the same municipal authority.

Municipal or urban engineering combines elements of environmental engineering, water resources engineering and transport engineering. Municipal engineering may be confused with urban design or urban planning. Whereas the urban planner may design the general layout of streets and public places, the municipal engineer is concerned with the detailed design. For example, in the case of the design of a new street, the urban planner may specify the general layout of the street, including landscaping, surface finishing and urban accessories, but the municipal engineer will prepare the detailed plans and specifications for the roads, sidewalks, municipal services and street lighting.