Modern cities are dynamic places. Within them social and physical systems interact with each other at a breakneck pace, leaving its inhabitants with an experience truly unique to this era. As more and more people move to urban regions (more than 50% of the world's population live in cities) where poverty, segregation, and environmental degradation remain commonplace, social scientists are faced with two fairly simple questions -
"What processes influenced the form of current urban systems?"
and
"How can urban systems be (re)organized to better serve their inhabitants sustainably?"
While the questions are simple, the answers are
obviously not. I hope that this blog will help further the discussion on urban issues in general and provide me and any readers with a better appreciation of how modeling urban regions as complex systems can complement qualitative understandings. My particular interests consist of four general themes:- the use of agent-based models as a means for introducing an element of agency into quantitative models
- system dynamics modeling and systems thinking to understand the complex interrelations of human and non-human actors in cities
- cognitive mapping and its relation to mobility and access
- questioning why certain actions and structures are considered transgressive in urban regions and what that says about society.
Things this blog will include:
- Reviews of different modeling techniques
- Essays on cities by myself and anyone interested in contributing
- Pictures of urban regions (anyone is welcome to submit)
- Commentary on relevant current events
As a graduate student I believe I still have much to learn and welcome and encourage all comments and serious criticisms. I very much hope this project will become an open venue for people to post their thoughts (on anything from public transportation to graffiti to general complexity theory) and photos of cities, so please email me if you are interested in contributing!
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