Abstract

April 10, 2006

Title: SimCity on Steroids: Using Cellular Automata and Computer Simulation to Explore our Urban Future
Presented by: Keith Clarke, Professor and Chair, Department of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara

Video Podcast

Abstract

Data gathering through remote sensing and geographic information systems has informed a new generation of computational simulation models of the growth in urban areas. The outcome has been a new generation of spatial models that allow an extraordinary level of experimentation with the past and future of the process of urbanization, that can simulate sprawl, and be used to test the impacts of urban growth management options and policies. Foremost among these have been cellular automaton models, which offer great power but create new demands on the processes of model calibration and validation. In this lecture, I will illustrate the new opportunities in gathering data for urban simulations, discuss a particular model (SLEUTH) in detail, show a sample of its applications worldwide, and discuss some new experiments in which hypothetical computational exploration of the cities in artificial surroundings becomes possible. Our analogy is to DNA: our models allow the equivalent of DNA sequencing, and the simulations allow the equivalent of genetic engineering of the "structure" of the spatial behavior of urban growth.

See: http://www.ncgia.ucsb.edu/projects/gig/