Category Archives: Agent-Based Models

… all models are wrong, but some are useful

Posted on May 1, 2014 by Michael Batty

So said the English statistician George Box with his colleague Norman Draper in his 1987 book Empirical Model Building. I saw him espouse this idea at the Royal Statistical Society in a lecture in the 1980s and the quote is … Continue reading →

Posted in Agent-Based Models, Complexity, LUTI models, Urban Models | Leave a comment

Urban Complexity and Planning

Posted on April 8, 2014 by Michael Batty

 An interesting new book by Shi-Kung Lai and Haoying Han which weaves together their various papers which range from strict cellular automata models of urban processes to models of organisational structures such as Cohen’s decision-making model applied to planning (The … Continue reading →

Posted in Agent-Based Models, Cellular Automata, Planning Support, power laws, Scaling | Leave a comment

China Rising: Beijing City Lab

Posted on January 12, 2014 by Michael Batty

A fascinating virtual lab pulling together research in urban science focussed on researchers from several Chinese universities and agencies in Beijing. From their site, they say “The Beijing City Lab (BCL) is a virtual research community, dedicated to studying, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Agent-Based Models, Big Data, Cellular Automata, LUTI models, Networks, Smart Cities | Leave a comment