Towards a generic multi-agent engine for the simulation of spatial behavioural processes : MASQUE/SwarmCity

SwarmCity is being developed as a micro-simulation model, simulating the location-choice behaviour of a population of households, retailers, firms, developers, etc. reacting to an urban plan. The focus of SwarmCity lies -in a first phase- on the decision-making procedures of households, conceptualised as a series of three processes: awakening, search and choice. The methodology used to implement these processes makes use of life-time utility and decision-analysis trees. The final model should work as a scenario-analysis tool, allowing planners, developers, retailers and municipalities to test intervention-proposals, to evaluate legislations, to measure the attractiveness of services, to quantify residential mobility, etc. This paper illustrates the state of the art in household location-choice modelling and introduces a first attempt in developing a conceptual framework