It is all but certain that the 21st century will see more and larger mega cities as magnets for population and economic activities in developed and developing countries around the world. It is similarly certain that the problems associated with the growth of mega cities would only deepen, persist and prolong, unless a new approach is taken to the development and re-development/revitalization of mega cities. Much work has been done to better understand the integrative nature and the interconnectivity of prevalent issues in mega cities – from housing to transportation, electricity and water and sewer infrastructure, and from service industries to government and policy issues. Nonetheless, and despite a full understanding of the need for systems engineering approach, there seems to be two major hurdles in developing workable solutions for mega cities. One is to find a common objective for linking the system of systems in mega cities, and second is to find a community-based approach to adapt the systems engineering concept to different mega cities around the world. In this paper, these two issues are addressed and -new ideas are offered for the community of scholars that work on these deep rooted issues. Copyright©2012 IAHS.
