This is a pretty straightforward text, although in this edition, it seems like the emphasis is on sustainability.
The authors provide an approach for urban land use planning -- separated out via the levels of planning (scope, such as regional, or neighborhood) and also by goal and division so as to incorporate community and political input.
Because there are often many different stakeholders with competing views, this particular topic is often contentious with NIMBYs and YIMBYS, developers and politicians and others who want to use this process to promote their results. The fact is, the process of planning, while technocratic in nature (utilizing policy and finance to instrumentalize a goal), the method reflects our contemporaneous balance of government, public and private interests with, ideally, no one party having all the benefits.
This book is a good introductory text, providing clear case examples, all of which stem from the economic, environmental, transportation views so that overall the end result is one that can maintain its ecological/environmental/economic balance for decades to come without the neighborhood, environment or community devolving into a place no one wants to be in.
Of the course the process is not clear, so thoroughness of procedure is the way to go, with long, short and mid term views and reports being the seed for deciding the appropriate plans.