SPATIAL PLANNING AND POLICY EVALUATION IN AN URBAN CONURBATION: A REGIONAL AGENT-BASED ECONOMIC MODEL
doi 10.17059/2017–1-24
UDC 332
JEL C63, R12, R14
Stricker, L. & Baruffini, M.
SPATIAL PLANNING AND POLICY EVALUATION IN AN URBAN CONURBATION: A REGIONAL AGENT-BASED ECONOMIC MODEL
This paper studies different functions and relations between 45 agglomerated municipalities in southern Switzerland (Ticino), using a territorial agent-based model. Our research adopts a bottom-up approach to urban systems, considering the agglomeration mechanism and effects of different regional and urban policies, and simulates the individual actions of diverse agents on a real city using an Agent-based model (ABM). Simulating the individual actions of diverse agents on a real city and measuring the resulting system behavior and outcomes over time, they effectively provide a good test bed for evaluating the impact of different policies. The database is created merging the Swiss official secondary data for one reference year (2011) with Eurostat and OECD-Regpat. The results highlight that the understanding of municipalities’ functions on the territory appears to be essential for designing a solid institutional agglomeration (or city). From a methodological point of view, we contribute to improve the application of territorial ABM. Finally, our results provide a robust base to evaluate in a dynamic way various political interventions, in order to ensure a sustainable development of the agglomeration and the surrounding territories. Applying the analyses and the model on a larger scale, including further regions and conurbations, and including more indicators and variables, to obtain a more detailed and characteristic model will constitute a further step of the research.
Keywords: firm localization, urban agglomeration, territorial indicators, spatial planning, municipal economy, urban roles, municipalities’ characteristics, urban policy evaluation, Agent-Based Models, simulation