A Semester with Urban Analytics

This past semester I gave a new class at GMU entitled "Urban Analytics". In a nutshell the class was about introducing students to a broad interdisciplinary field that focuses on the use of data to study cities. More specifcally the emphasis of the class was to provide students with a understanding of what methods, tools and theory can be used to monitor, analyze and model cities. 

From my past research and also when preparing the class material,  I have come to the realization that to study cities (like many others, you know who you are) that there is no one general model, tool or dataset. Therefore, one needs to maintain a toolbox of specialized tools than can be applied to different aspects of urban problems and questions. 

The toolbox that we used in class included a variety of software such as ArcGIS, QGIS, GeoDa, SANET along with programing and scripting in Python and R to modeling  cities via UrbanSim, NetLogo and MASON. Data we used ranged from crowdsourced (e.g. volunteered geographical information) data such as from OpenStreetMap or Wikipedia, to crowd harvested (ambient geographical information) data such as Twitter and Flickr, as-well as more traditional sources of data such as the US Census.

The Urban Analytics Toolbox

As an introduction to urban analytics, the course had the following objectives:

1. to understand the motivation for the use of data to study cities, including some historical aspects; 
2. to learn about the variety of Urban Analytics research programs across the several disciplines (urban planning, regional science, public policy, geography, computational social science etc.), through a survey of the literature and case studies. 
3. to understand the distinct contribution that Urban Analytics can make by providing specific insights about cities at multiple scales. 
4. to provide the foundations for more advanced work in the area of Urban Analytics. 

As with many of my courses, students were expected to complete a end of semester project. Below is a selection of these projects which explored some aspect of urban life.

I would like to thank the students for participating in this new class. It was a fun trip.

Call For Papers: Rethinking the ABCs

Readers of the blog might be interested in a workshop being organized by Daniel Brown, Eun-Kyeong Kim, Liliana Perez, and Raja Sengupta entitled:

Rethinking the ABCs: Agent-Based Models and Complexity Science in the age of Big Data, CyberGIS, and Sensor networks

September 27th, 2016 in Montreal, Canada

To quote from the call:

"A broad scope of concepts and methodologies from complexity science – including Agent-Based Models, Cellular Automata, network theory, chaos theory, and scaling relations – has contributed to a better understanding of spatial/temporal dynamics of complex geographic patterns and process.

Recent advances in computational technologies such as Big Data, Cloud Computing and CyberGIS platforms, and Sensor Networks (i.e. the Internet of Things) provides both new opportunities and raises new challenges for ABM and complexity theory research within GIScience. Challenges include parameterization of complex models with volumes of georeferenced data being generated, scale model applications to realistic simulations over broader geographic extents, explore the challenges in their deployment across large networks to take advantage of increased computational power, and validate their output using real-time data, as well as measure the impact of the simulation on knowledge, information and decision-making both locally and globally via the world wide web.

The scope of this workshop is to explore novel complexity science approaches to dynamic geographic phenomena and their applications, addressing challenges and enriching research methodologies in geography in a Big Data Era."

More information about the workshop can be found at https://sites.psu.edu/bigcomplexitygisci/

Exploring Creativity and Urban Development with Agent-Based Modeling

There is considerable debate about "creative cities" and relatively few agent-based models that explore such ideas from the bottom up. To that end we have recently published a paper in the Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation entitled: "Exploring Creativity and Urban Development through Agent-Based Modeling"

In the paper we introduce the Creative City Model, an exploratory ABM to simulate the theoretical relationship between land-use regulation, urban mobility and societal tolerance on the economic performance of cities. The model is based on simplified assumptions from our empirically informed understanding of urban morphology, economic geography and the diffusion of creativity from human interactions.  It contributes to the growing literature exploring the dynamic socioeconomic processes underlying urban economic growth through computer simulation. Specifically the model offers a new lens to view the diffusion of creativity through knowledge spillovers under various scenarios from the bottom up. Through experimentation, the model suggests the existence of tradeoffs between the desire for social equity, estimated via rent affordability, and the rapid diffusion of creativity. Below you can find the abstract of the paper.

Abstract:

Scholars and urban planners have suggested that the key characteristic of leading world cities is that they attract the highest quality human talent through educational and professional opportunities. They offer enabling environments for productive human interactions and the growth of knowledge-based industries which drives economic growth through innovation. Both through hard and soft infrastructure, they offer physical connectivity which fosters human creativity and results in higher income levels. When combined with population density, socioeconomic diversity and societal tolerance; the elevated interaction intensity improves productivity. In many developing country cities however, rapid urbanization is increasing sprawl and causing deteriorating in public service standards. We further explore these insights by creating a stylized agent-based model where heterogeneous and independent decision-making agents interact under the following scenarios: (1) improved urban transportation investments; (2) mixed land-use regulations; and (3) reduced residential segregation. We find that any combination of scenarios resulting in conditions of intense human interaction results in greater economic growth. However, model results also demonstrate a clear trade-off between rapid economic progress and socioeconomic equity mainly due to the crowding out of low- and middle-income households from clusters of creativity. 

Key Words: Agent-Based Modeling; Developing Countries; Urban; Segregation; Land-use; Transportation

The movie below shows a typical simulation run of the model.


Further details about the model along with its ODD is available from the OpenABM website (click here).

Full Reference:

Malik, A.A., Crooks, A.T., Root, H.L. and Swartz, M. (2015), Exploring Creativity and Urban Development through Agent-Based Modeling, Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation. 18 (2): 12. Available at http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/18/2/12.html. 

Lipari School on Computational Social Science

If you are wondering what to do between July 26 and August 1, this summer, you might be interested in this years Lipari School on Computational Social Science which is focusing on Algorithms, Data, and Models for Social and Urban Systems. 

What will be taught at the summer school and why? To answer the these questions and to quote from the the homepage of the school:

 "Social and urban systems have been the focus of social science theory and research for centuries, but only until recently have computational approaches enabled novel explorations of challenging and enduring research questions and the opening of new frontiers for investigation. What is the role of Computational Social Science in advancing the science of social and urban systems? Which advanced algorithms and data structures play a key role in these investigations? In 2015 our Lipari Summer School in CSS will address questions such as the role of GIS (geographic/geospatial information systems), social media, big social data, agent-based models, network models, and their integration in the study, design, and implementation of social and urban systems. "

The speakers will be:

• Andrew Crooks, George Mason University who will speak about  GIS and Agent-Based Modeling. 
  
• Alexei Pozdnukhov from UC Berkeley who will speak about Location-Based Social Networks.
• Carlo Ratti from the MIT Senseable City Lab who will speak about Senseable Cities.

Special guest speakers will be:

• Paolo Ferragina from the University of Pisa, Italy.
• Wulf Daseking from the University of Freiburg, Germany.

To find out how to apply to attend the summer school click here. Students are encouraged to apply early because enrollment is competitive and limited.

Call for Papers: New Directions in Geospatial Simulation

New Directions In Geospatial Simulation

The geospatial simulation community has enjoyed steady growth over the past decade as novel and advanced forms of agent-based and cellular automata modeling continue to facilitate the exploration of complex geographic problems facing the world today. It is now an opportune time to consider the future direction of this community and explore ways to leverage geospatial simulation in professional arenas. The aim of these sessions is to bring together researchers utilizing agent-based and cellular automata techniques and associated methodologies to discuss new directions in geospatial simulation. We invite papers that fall into one of the following four categories:

• Graduate student geospatial simulation research
• Methodological advances of agent-based or cellular automata modeling
• New application frontiers in geospatial simulation
• Approaches for evaluating the credibility of geospatial simulation models

Student papers will be presented in an interactive short paper session with presentations no longer than five minutes and no more than ten slides. Following presentations, students will form a panel that will address questions from the audience as directed by the session moderator. Student presentations will be judged as a part of a Best Student Paper award, the winner of which will receive an award of $500.

All other papers will be placed in one of the following three sessions: (1) Methodological Advances, (2) Novel Applications, or (3) Model Credibility. Each session will be comprised of four speakers followed by a twenty-minute discussion on the session topic.

Please e-mail the abstract and key words with your expression of intent to Chris Bone by October 28, 2014. Please make sure that your abstract conforms to the AAG guidelines in relation to title, word limit and key words and as specified at http://www.aag.org/cs/annualmeeting/call_for_papers. An abstract should be no more than 250 words that describe the presentation's purpose, methods, and conclusions as well as to include keywords. Full submissions will be given priority over submissions with just a paper title.

ORGANIZERS:

Chris Bone, Department of Geography, University of Oregon

Andrew Crooks, Department of Computational Social Science, George Mason University

Alison Heppenstall, School of Geography, University of Leeds

Arika Ligmann-Zielinska, Department of Geography, Michigan State University

David O’Sullivan, Department of Geography, University of California, Berkeley

TIMELINE:

October 14th, 2014: Second call for papers

October 28th, 2014: Abstract submission and expression of intent to session organizers. E-mail Chris Bone by this date if you are interested in being in this session. Please submit an abstract and key words with your expression of intent. Full submissions will be given priority over submissions with just a paper title.

October 31st, 2014: Session finalization. Session organizers determine session order and content and notify authors.

November 3rd, 2014: Final abstract submission to AAG, via www.aag.org. All participants must register individually via this site. Upon registration you will be given a participant number (PIN). Send the PIN and a copy of your final abstract to Chris Bone. Neither the organizers nor the AAG will edit the abstracts.

November 5th, 2014: AAG registration deadline. Sessions submitted to AAG for approval.

April 21-25, 2014: AAG meeting, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Multi-Agent Systems for Urban Planning

Recently we contributed a chapter to "Technologies for Urban and Spatial Planning: Virtual Cities and Territories" which aims to quote from the preference:  

"(i) to contribute to the dissemination of the recent research and development of the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in urban and spatial planning, trying to demonstrate their usability in planning processes through the presentation of relevant case studies, framed by their underlying theory; (ii) to give additional evidence to the fact that ICT are the privileged means to produce virtual cities and territories; and (iii) to make available, from a pedagogical standpoint, a group of illustrative reviews of the scientific production made by both academics and practitioners in the field."

The book has 11 chapters which are grouped in several themes:

"first group focuses on the discussion over the use of ICT in spatial planning; the second group of contributions deals with urban modelling and simulation; the third group focuses on the use of different sensors to acquire information and model spatial processes; the fourth group focuses on the use of data to create more capable visualization tools; and the fifth group is about the use of virtual models to simulate real environments and plan and manage other aspects of the built environment such as energy."

Our chapter is entitled "Multi-agent Systems for Urban Planning" fits into the second group with respect to urban modeling and simulation. We present a detailed overview about the theory and the development of multi-agent systems (MAS) in spatial planning, focusing on how MAS can lead to insights into urban problems and aid urban planning fostering a bottom up approach to spatial planning. The abstract is as follows:

Cities provide homes for over half of the world's population, and this proportion is expected to increase throughout the next century. The growth of cities raises many questions and challenges for urban planning including which cities and regions are most likely to grow, what the pattern of urban growth will be, and how the existing infrastructure will cope with such growth. One way to explore these types of questions is through the use of multi-agent systems (MAS) that are capable of modeling how individuals interact and how structures emerge through such interactions, in terms of both the social and physical environment of cities. Within this chapter, the authors focus on how MAS can lead to insights into urban problems and aid urban planning from the bottom up. They review MAS models that explore the growth of cities and regions, models that explore land-use patterns resulting from such growth along with the rise of slums. Furthermore, the authors demonstrate how MAS models can be used to model transportation and the changing demographics of cities. Through these examples the authors also demonstrate how this style of modeling can give insights into such issues that cannot be gleamed from other modeling methodologies. The chapter concludes with challenges and future research directions of MAS models with respect to capturing the dynamics of human behavior in urban planning.

Full Reference:

Crooks, A.T., Patel, A. and Wise, S. (2014), Multi-agent Systems for Urban Planning, in Pinto, N.N., Tenedório, J. Antunes A. P. and Roca, J. (eds.), Technologies for Urban and Spatial Planning: Virtual Cities and Territories, IGI Global, Hershey, PA, pp. 29-56. (pdf)

Interurban Simulation Models

Following on from a previous post about the rise of civilizations. I thought it was worth blogging of another publication which I just came across in Environment and Planning A which demonstrates the utility of agent-based modeling for looking at urban systems by Denise Pumain and Lena Sanders. While I have blogged about the SimPop models before (here), which explore a systems of cities and how they evolve in space and time. In this recent paper the authors compare and contrast ABM with other styles of modeling. To quote from the paper:

"Agent-based models are increasingly used by urban specialists, supplanting the simulation models using differential equations which were more popular earlier. These models already made reference to the theories of self-organisation and to mechanisms of evolution not so far from those used today to describe the emergence of macroscopic properties or structures in a bottom-up process from interactions operating at the microlevel. Moreover there is less difference than often suggested in the literature between the two forms of modelling – differential equations and multi-agent models—in the way they integrate principles of urban theory. To test this assumption, we compare models made of systems of differential equations (Allen’s model firmly rooted in self-organisation theory and the model developed by Weidlich and Haag, affiliated to synergetic theory) with multi-agent models (SIMPOP family) designed to meet the same task: simulating the differentiated dynamics of urban entities over the medium to long term from their functional economic specialisation. We show that multi-agent systems are providing interesting solutions for the modelling method, because of their greater ability to simulate the emergence of geographical macro structures from different levels of interaction." 

Full Reference:

Pumain, D. and  Sanders, L. (2013). Theoretical principles in interurban simulation models: a comparison. Environment and Planning A, 45(9), 2243-2260.

 

Geosimulation Models - AAG 2014: Call for Papers

GEOSIMULATION MODELS

DESCRIPTION OF THE SESSION(S)

Since the publication of Geosimulation in 2004, the use of Agent-based Modeling (ABM) and Cellular Automata (CA) under the umbrella of Geosimulation models within geographical systems have started to mature as methodologies to explore a wide range of geographical and more broadly social sciences problems facing society. The aim of these sessions is to bring together researchers utilizing geosimulation techniques (and associated methodologies) to discuss topics relating to: theory, technical issues and applications domains of ABM and CA within geographical systems.

Papers will discuss issues relating to:

• Validation, verification and calibration of Agent-based and CA models
• Hybrid modeling approaches (e.g. utilizing Spatial Interaction, Microsimulation, etc.)
• Handling scale and space issues
• Visualization of agent-based models (along with their outputs)
• Ways of representing behavior within models of geographical systems
• Participatory modeling and simulation
• Applications: Ranging from the micro to macro scale

Please e-mail the abstract and key words with your expression of intent to Andrew Crooks by November 28th, 2013. Please make sure that your abstract conforms to the AAG guidelines in relation to title, word limit and key words and as specified at http://www.aag.org/cs/annualmeeting/call_for_papers;. An abstract should be no more than 250 words that describes the presentation's purpose, methods, and conclusions as well as to include keywords. Full submissions will be given priority over submissions with just a paper title.

ORGANIZERS:
Andrew Crooks, Computational Social Science, George Mason University.
Suzana Dragicevic, Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University.
Paul Torrens, Department of Geographical Sciences and Institute for Advanced Computer Studies, University of Maryland.

TIMELINE:
September 30th, 2013: First call for papers.
November 19th, 2013: Second call for papers


November 28th, 2013: Abstract submission and expression of intent to session organizers. E-mail Andrew Crooks by this date if you are interested in being in this session. Please submit an abstract and key words with your expression of intent. Full submissions will be given priority over submissions with just a paper title.

November 29th, 2013: Session finalization. Session organizers determine session order and content and notify authors.

December 2st, 2013: Final abstract submission to AAG, via www.aag.org. All participants must register individually via this site. Upon registration you will be given a participant number (PIN). Send the PIN and a copy of your final abstract to Andrew Crooks. Neither the organizers nor the AAG will edit the abstracts.

December 3rd, 2013: AAG registration deadline. Sessions submitted to AAG for approval.

April 8th -12th, 2014: AAG meeting, Tampa Bay, Florida, USA.