Modeling Feedback Mechanisms Between Land Use and Climate Change

We investigate the coupling between land use and climate change via a simple feedback mechanism. To explore the feedback, we develop a basic REPAST model in which agents choose a land use to maximize their local utility. Agent’s utility functions determine whether to convert undeveloped land to farmland or urban land. Farmlands may subsequently be converted to urban land when the utility of the land serves an urban purpose. When changing land use, there is a pollution penalty based upon the conversion type. The agent’s utility depends upon the need for food, proximity to population, proximity to similar land, and pollution. The dual use of the utility functions was found to be inadequate and gave similar results to a random utility