A Multi-Agent System for the simulation of urban dynamics

Urban simulation has remained an interesting research topic for many years. Issues like urban growth, congestion and segregation demand advanced modeling approaches. Numerous approaches and modeling techniques have been applied and they all have their own advantages and deficiencies. While aggregative modeling techniques have been criticized by researchers for their serious lacks for such a modeling, individual-based modeling techniques have received special attention lately. Among these models, agent-based modeling is considered to have outstanding superiorities. Agent-based modeling provides a better understanding of the structure and processes of urban systems. Integration of this modeling technique with GIS will enhance their potential for urban simulation purposes dramatically. This paper reviews the applications of agent-based modeling in urban simulation, and then depicts the necessity of integrating this modeling approach with GIS and reports current state and prospect of th...

Transportation systems are increasingly complex and must evolve to incorporate components of sustainable development. It has become appropriate to develop high-level simulation tools for policy makers so that they can analyze the potential consequences of their choices. In this paper, we propose a decision-maker simulator intended to define and tune urban transportation policy (travel, parking and transportation strategies). In terms of system architecture, we adopted a "system of systems" approach, mainly structured in layers, in order to model the main elements of the system. We represent explicitly, for example, a layer of roads, lights, parking, means of transport, etc. Our system uses an agent-based simulation incorporating spatial and temporal information. It must support the regulatory scenarios to simulate the effect of regulatory strategies on transportation systems. The paradigm of multi-agent systems is well suited for simulating the behavior of the components of an urban transportation system. Existing applications address problems of individual behavior management, management of traffic flows, management of temporal and geographical aspects, multi-modality transport, etc. However, they don't address organizational aspects of transportation systems that incorporate the adaptability of users' behavior. In addition, we implemented the mechanism of "traces"; the trace files contain the result of simulation. Travel surveys, census and traffic measurements were used. Analysis of available data and traces were used to evaluate the suitability of our simulations according to different regulatory strategies. Finally, we implemented a prototype for the movement of people in the city of La Rochelle from statistical data of INSEE

2012

Agent-oriented modelling is one of the simulation methods for emergent behavior of a complex system that could be considered for application of urban city structures. Using advanced script techniques, the behavior and evolution of structures in the bottom-up strategies for the development of environment could be simulated in architecture and urbanism as well. The paper presents a research subproject in the area of verification of the processes of spatial and social interaction of the agents according to the logic of defined intrinsic rules of Swarm behavior in the simulation model of the selected area. The research builds mainly upon two selected requirements of the bottom-up strategy: the approach distances to places of interest and mutual standoff distances between urban elements.

Sustainability

As cities expand, many old towns face the threat of being renovated or demolished. In recent years, the drawbacks of extensive urban renewal have become increasingly apparent, and the focus of urban development is gradually shifting from efficiency to quality. This study aims to combine urban renewal with emerging technologies to address the dilemma between efficiency and quality in urban renewal. The study found that algorithm models based on graph theory, topology, and shortest path principles neglect the influence of internal states and visual features on pedestrian activity, resulting in lower simulation accuracy. Although incorporating internal states and visual features into the core of the algorithm further improved the simulation accuracy, the model operates in a 3D environment with lower efficiency. To address the problems of insufficient simulation accuracy and low efficiency, this study proposes a dynamic pedestrian activity model based on a multi-agent system and incorpo...

International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, 2012

In this research a new agent based approach for simulating complex systems with spatial dynamics is presented. We propose architecture based on coupling between two systems: multi-agent systems and geographic information systems. We also propose a generic model of agent-oriented simulation that we will apply to the field of land use planning. In fact, simulating the evolution of the urban system is a key to help decision makers to anticipate the needs of the city in terms of installing new equipment and opening new urbanization' areas to install the new population.

2020

By submitting this research thesis electronically, I declare that the entirety of the work contained therein is my own, original work, that I am the sole author thereof (save to the extent explicitly otherwise stated), that reproduction and publication thereof by Stellenbosch University will not infringe any third party rights and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it for obtaining any qualification.

Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 1998

This paper considers a multi-agent simulation model of the population dynamics in a city, in which inhabitants can change their residential behavior depending on the properties of their neighborhood, neighbors and the whole city. The autonomous agent in the model is characterized by its economic status and cultural identity and these two properties differ in their nature. The economic status is supposed to be uni-dimensional and quantitative, while the cultural identity is treated as a multidimensional and qualitative feature. Special attention is devoted to the comparison of the consequences of the individuals' interactions according to these features. #

2005

In Multi Agent Systems applied to the social science simulations the construction of evolution rules applied to agents (individual agents and aggregated agents) follows three main approaches. A first approach is based on urban theories and rules derived from analytical models; a second one is based on “expert knowledge” and rules derive from the know-how of the modeler or from common sense; the last one is the more complex: rules derive directly from data. In this work we discuss adopted rules in some examples of Multi Agent Systems and describe three applications we developed. The first one uses the first mentioned approach, through a dynamic spatial interaction model integrated in a GIS software; the second one uses rules from “expert knowledge” and propose an integration between Geodatabase Data Model and MAS; the last one proposes a way to construct simple and readable rules starting from data and using Decision Tree Induction.

… , and Network-Based …, 2006

Mobility study is composed of many research areas like urban mobility. In the literature, urban mobilities are repre-sented by analytical techniques like stochastic laws or they are defined by simulation tools like Multi-Agents Systems (MAS). The goal of our work is to define ...

In this study, Munster town, located in the east of France is modeled in a multi-agent system and the urban growth has been studied in the referred year 2002 from the initial state 1979. For studying the urban growth, aerial photos and geographical data have been exploited as the primary materials to make the model in two different time sections.