Engineering Book
Site Design and Engineering (SD & E) - 2nd Edition
This second edition, published in 2026, builds on the first edition released three years earlier. It features expanded content and reorganized illustrations, enhancing clarity and making the reading experience more engaging and seamless. SD & E provides essential guidance to property owners, developers, architects, engineers, students, and contractors in America navigating the complex rules and regulations governing residential and commercial site development. This resource can also serve as a valuable refresher for those seeking to enhance their skills. Ali Shasti has fielded countless questions from developers, consultants, and the public with over four decades of experience as an engineer and consultant. In this book, he outlines responses to critical inquiries that have helped individuals find solutions to their concerns and negotiate effectively with Agencies Having Jurisdiction (AHJ). Learn from his experiences to grasp the permitting process, secure fast-tracked permit approvals, develop sound engineering projects, and create constructive, approvable construction plans to ensure the project's success. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIAUSoqN6NgHM-nEnaap9w-bfXJqpqolV&si=NqFoMovQ8lKFRC3R
Indies Today Book Awards, Editorial Review
Site Design & Engineering by Ali Shasti ★★★★★ / By Nicky Flowers / June 23, 2026 An experience-rich field guide that turns the tangle of American site permitting into a path readers can finally walk. Visit any urban area in America, and you’ll notice the imprint of zoning codes, environmental regulations, and permitting processes on every level. Yet no two cities are identical. For example, in San Francisco, zero parking minimums encourage transit use. By contrast, suburban commercial sites in Phoenix may require 4 or 5 spaces per 1,000 sq ft. Boston’s historic neighborhoods might have zero‑lot‑line buildings with no front setback, but in Charlotte, many residential zones require up to 20 or more feet of front setback. How can anyone keep all these disparate guidelines straight? In his book, Site Design & Engineering: A Guide for Site Development, Construction Plans Preparation, and Permitting, Ali Shasti sets out to do something ambitious: distill the scattered, jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction rules governing land development into one sensible guide. With information that impacts everyone from commercial developers to community block-party organizers, Shasti’s book covers a lot of ground. The early chapters include soil testing requirements, right-of-way permits, conceptual site plans, and more. The book then takes readers through the planning and development of real projects. By peeking in on a project from its earliest planning stages through finished plans.