与项目的实际工程要素相比，通过发达城市社区建设一条主要管道，要获得公众的认可和支持，可能会带来更困难的挑战。如今，随着公众越来越希望对影响其社区的项目发表意见，获得公众认可可能是城市管线设计中最具挑战性的方面之一。“决定、设计和辩护”的时代已经过去，取而代之的是社区参与设计过程的过程。 圣迭戈市的中城市管道是一个很好的例子，它让高度城市化地区的社区积极参与工程师的工作，以实现共同目标。要获得公众支持，设计师和项目所有者都需要投入时间和资源，将公众纳入决策过程。

Obtaining public acceptance and support for construction of a major pipeline through a developed urban community can present more difficult challenges than the actual engineering elements of the project. Today, with the increasing public desire for a say about projects which impact their communities, obtaining public acceptance can be one of the most challenging aspects of urban pipline design. The days of "decide, design and defend" are gone, replaced by a process of community involvement in the design process. The City of San Diego's Mid-City pipeline is an excellent example of bringing the community of a highly urbanized area in to active involvement with the engineers to achieve common goals. Achieving public support requires a commitment by both the designers and project owners to spend the time and resources to integrate the public into the decision making processes.