Simulation:UrbanSimProjectHighlights
AlanBorningandPaulWaddell
CenterforUrbanSimulationandPolicyAnalysis
UniversityofWashington,Box353055
Seattle,Washington98195
borning@cs.washington.edu,pwaddell@u.washington.edu
1ProjectOverviewandImpacts
Theprocessofplanningandconstructinganewlightrailsystemorfreeway,settinganurbangrowthbound-ary,changingtaxpolicy,ormodifyingzoningandlanduseplansisoftenpoliticallycharged.OurgoalintheUrbanSimprojectistoprovidetoolsforplannersandstakeholderstobeabletoconsiderdifferentscenarios—packagesofpossiblepoliciesandinvestments—andthen,basedonthesealternatives,modeltheresult-ingpatternsofurbangrowthandredevelopment,oftransportationusage,andofresourceconsumptionandotherenvironmentalimpacts,overperiodsoftwentyormoreyears.UrbanSim[1,3,4]performssimulationsofurbandevelopment,includingtransportation,landuse,environmentalimpacts,andtheirinteractions.Itconsistsofasetofinteractingcomponentmodelsthatsimulatedifferentactorsorprocesseswithintheurbanenvironment.ThesystemiswritteninJava,andisdistributedasOpenSourcesoftware.(Sourcecode,aswellaspapersandreports,areavailablefromwww.urbansim.org.)
2CollaborationExamplesandSuccessStories
Wehavetwoprimarykindsofgovernmentcollaborators.TheimmediateusersofUrbanSim(andsystemslikeit)areMetropolitanPlanningOrganizations:regionalagenciesthatarechargedwithtransportationplanninginurbanareas.Inthepastyear,wehavebeencollaboratingmostcloselywithtwosuchorganiza-tions:theWasatchFrontRegionalCouncil(theMetropolitanPlanningOrganizationfortheSaltLakeCity,Utah,region);andthePugetSoundRegionalCouncil(Seattle,Washington,andothercitiesandsuburbsintheregion).IntheSaltLakeCityregion,UrbanSimplayedacentralroleinalawsuitoveramajorhigh-wayproject(the“LegacyParkway”).Thesuitwassettledoutofcourt,withacentralprovisionbeinganagreementbyallpartiestotestUrbanSimforoperationaluseintheregion.AnexpertPeerReviewPanelendorsedcontinuingtheprocessofapplyingUrbanSim,alongwithprovidingmanythoughtfulsuggestionsforimprovements.Inourownregion,wesetupapartnershipwithPugetSoundRegionalCounciltoapplyUrbanSim,withthegoalbeingtouseUrbanSimastheoperationalmodelforPugetSound.OurfirstmajorlocaluseofthesystemwillbetheupcomingupdateofVision2020,theadoptedregionallong-rangestrat-egyfortransportationandgrowthmanagement.Workingwithourlab,UrbanSimhasalsobeenappliedinEugene/Springfield,Oregon;Honolulu,Hawaii;andHouston,Texas.
OurotherprimarygovernmentcollaboratorsareFederalagencies.WehavebeenfortunatetoreceivesignificantfundingfromtheNSFDigitalGovernmentandITRprograms.ThecasestudyinSaltLakeCitywasfundedinmajorpartbyagrantfromtheFederalHighwayAdministration,whichwasdesignatedasmatchingfundsfortheDigitalGovernmentaward.Wehavealsohadproductivediscussionswiththe
EnvironmentalProtectionAgencyandtheDepartmentofHousingandUrbanDevelopment,andhopetosetupcollaborationswithstaffinthoseagencies.
Asnotedabove,UrbanSimisanopensourceproject,andwemakeoursourcecodefreelyavailableviatheweb.Asaresult,groupsinsitesasdiverseasManila,Paris,Taipei,andTorinohavedownloadedoursystemandareseekingtoapplyitintheirregions.
3ChallengesandBarriers
Urbanregionsareincrediblycomplexsystems.Theresultingtechnicalchallengesincludedifficultiesinidentifyingordevelopingthenecessarytheoreticalbasisformodelingsuchregions,significantcomputa-tionalchallengesraisedbymassiveamountsofdataandfine-grainedsimulation,andtheissueofhowtomaketheresultsaccessibleandrelevanttothestakeholders.Asecondsetofchallengesarisesfromaligningacademicandgovernmentobjectives.AcademiaandNSFwantslong-term,risky,potentiallyhigh-payoffresearch.Planningagencies,ontheotherhand,arefundamentallyrisk-adverse,withlimitedfunds,andmustmakepoliticallychargeddecisionsunderheavypublicscrutiny.Anotherchallengeisthetensionbe-tweenresearchanddeliverables.Ononeside,wewanttodoresearchonalternativeapproaches,toexploredifferentarchitectures,tomakerapidprogress.Ontheother,ourdomainrequiresthatwedeliverarobust,highlyreliable,crediblesystem.Athirdsetofchallengesarisesfromthedifficultiesofdoingacademicinterdisciplinaryresearch.Aforthcomingpaper[2]discussesthesechallengesinmoredetail.
Acknowledgments
WewouldliketothankeachandeverymemberoftheUrbanSimresearchteamfortheirworkontheproject.ThanksalsototheNSFDigitalGovernmentprogram,whichhasprovidedasolidhomeforthisworkwithinNSF.Inparticular,theDigitalGovernmentprogramhassupportedthekindofmixtureofbasicandapplied,andhighlyinterdisciplinary,researchthatisneededforthisdomain.
ThisresearchhasbeenfundedinpartbygrantsfromtheNationalScienceFoundation(EIA-0090832andEIA-0121326)andtheFederalHighwayAdministration,andinpartbyapartnershipwiththePugetSoundRegionalCouncil.
References
[1]MichaelNoth,AlanBorning,andPaulWaddell.Anextensible,modulararchitectureforsimulating
urbandevelopment,transportation,andenvironmentalimpacts.Computers,EnvironmentandUrbanSystems,27(2):181–203,March2003.[2]PaulWaddellandAlanBorning.Acasestudyindigitalgovernment:Developingandapplyingurban-sim,asystemforsimulatingurbanlanduse,transportation,andenvironmentalimpacts.SocialScienceComputerReview,2004.Inpress.[3]PaulWaddell,AlanBorning,MichaelNoth,NathanFreier,MichaelBecke,andGudmundurUlfarsson.
Microsimulationofurbandevelopmentandlocationchoices:DesignandimplementationofUrbanSim.NetworksandSpatialEconomics,3(1):43–67,2003.[4]PaulWaddellandGudmundurF.Ulfarsson.Introductiontourbansimulation:Designanddevelopment
ofoperationalmodels.InP.Stopher,K.Button,K.Haynes,andD.Hensher,editors,HandbookofTransport,Volume5:TransportGeographyandSpatialSystems.PergamonPress,2004.Inpress.Preprintavailablefromwww.urbansim.org/papers.
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