Spatial Planning and Policy Evaluation in an Urban Conurbation: a Regional Agent-Based Economic Model

Luzius Stricker () and Moreno Baruffini
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Luzius Stricker: Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), Institute for Economic Research (IRE)

Economy of region, 2017, vol. 1, issue 1, 261 - 275

Abstract: 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 behaviour 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 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C63 R12 R14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Journal Article: Spatial planning and policy evaluation in an urban conurbation: a regional Agent-based economic model (2017)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ura:ecregj:v:1:y:2017:i:1:p:261-275

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