Conception and use of an individual-based model of residential choice in a planning decision process. Feedback from an experimental trial in the city of Besançon, France

International audienceIn this paper, we present an experimental trial involving the use of a complex spatial simulation platform to support a planning decision process in the city of Besançon (eastern France). In medium-sized towns across France, households with children are leaving to settle in periurban areas, and Besançon is no exception. Under those circumstances, the political objective of the Besançon City authority is to keep middle- and high-income households with children within the city. The simulation platform MobiSim was used in this context to explore the possible outcomes of spatial planning policies, set by both the Greater Besançon authority (Besançon and the surrounding periurban communities) and the city of Besançon, on residential migrations over a 20 year period. MobiSim integrates several models representing demographic, social, economic, and spatial processes. Modelled entities are individuals and dwellings. Rules determine how individuals form households. Other rules locate dwellings in buildings