I guess my belief is that we don't really know what the constraints are. Human society is far too complex to think about in those terms. The best we can do is largely to leave people to resolve their conflicts peacefully themslves, free from designs by zoning boards, Departments of Education, and "fiscal constraints" that are far too big to begin with.
If your sense of an engineer is someone who knows how to live within his means then it's hard to quarrel with you. But there's a reason that "social engineering" is such a term of derision. :)
When I used the term "fiscal constraints" I was referring to doing things in a cost-effective manner. If you have a highway with a congestion problem, it makes no sense for me to come up with a $300 million solution if the state/county/municipality only has $100 million to work with.