Systems engineering applied to urban planning and development: A review and research agenda

Systems engineering tools and methodologies are increasingly being used in urban planning and sustainable development applications. Such tools were previously extensively used for urban planning during the 1960s and 1970s in the United States, only to result in high profile failures and pushback from urban planners, politicians, and the public. In order to better understand why this occurred, what has changed, and how we can avoid such failures moving forward, this study conducts a systematic review and an integrative review of the systems engineering and critical literature. These reviews are used to identify eight common pitfalls and organize them into key themes. Technological and methodological developments that may address each of these pitfalls are considered and recommendations are made for future applications of systems engineering to planning contexts. Finally, examples are provided of systems engineering being used productively in a way consistent with these recommendations for sustainable development applications.