Morphological similarities between DBM and a microeconomic model of sprawl

Geoffrey Caruso (1) , Gilles Vuidel (2) , Jean Cavailhès (3) , Pierre Frankhauser (2) , Dominique Peeters (1) , Isabelle Thomas (1)

1 CORE - Center of Operation Research and Econometrics [Louvain]
2 ThéMA - Théoriser et modéliser pour aménager (UMR 6049)
3 CESAER - Centre d'Economie et de Sociologie Rurales Appliquées à l'Agriculture et aux Espaces Ruraux

We present a model that simulates the growth of a metropolitan area on a 2D lattice. The model is dynamic and based on microeconomics. Households show preferences for nearby open spaces and neighbourhood density. They compete on the land market. They travel along a road network to access the CBD. A planner ensures the connectedness and maintenance of the road network. The spatial pattern of houses, green spaces and road network self-organises, emerging from agents individualistic decisions. We perform several simulations and vary residential preferences. Our results show morphologies and transition phases that are similar to Dieletric Breakdown Models (DBM). Such similarities were observed earlier by other authors, but we show here that it can be deducted from the functioning of the land market and thus explicitly connected to urban economic theory.

Domaines: Géographie

Geoffrey Caruso, Gilles Vuidel, Jean Cavailhès, Pierre Frankhauser, Dominique Peeters, et al.. Morphological similarities between DBM and a microeconomic model of sprawl. Journal of Geographical Systems, 2011, 13 (1), pp.31-48. ⟨hal-00864550⟩