Urban Simulation Model

Urban simulation models reproduce the dynamics of urban growth and land-use change by simulating, over time, the decisions of agents — households, firms, developers — or the transitions of cells on a grid. They span agent-based models, cellular automata such as SLEUTH, and microsimulation platforms such as Paul Waddell's UrbanSim, which represents individual households and jobs choosing locations through discrete-choice models linked to a transport network. Rather than predicting a single equilibrium, these models let many local rules and choices interact and feed back through prices and accessibility, generating emergent patterns of sprawl, densification, and redevelopment under alternative policies.