An Agent-Based Model to Assess the Attractiveness of Industrial Estates
Authored by Fernando Fonseca, Ramos Rui Antonio Rodrigues, da Silva Antonio Nelson Rodrigues
Date Published: 2015
Sponsors:
Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology
Platforms:
NetLogo
Model Documentation:
Other Narrative
Model Code URLs:
Model code not found
Abstract
This article describes the main approaches adopted in a study focused on
planning industrial estates on a sub-regional scale. The study was
supported by an agent-based model, using firms as agents to assess the
attractiveness of industrial estates. The simulation was made by the
NetLogo toolkit and the environment represents a geographical space.
Three scenarios and four hypotheses were used in the simulation to test
the impact of different policies on the attractiveness of industrial
estates. Policies were distinguished by the level of municipal
coordination at which they were implemented and by the type of
intervention. In the model, the attractiveness of industrial estates was
based on the level of facilities, amenities, accessibility and on the
price of land in each industrial estate. Firms are able to move and
relocate whenever they find an attractive estate. The relocating firms
were selected by their size, location and distance to an industrial
estate. Results show that a coordinated policy among municipalities is
the most efficient policy to promote advanced-qualified estates. In
these scenarios, it was observed that more industrial estates became
attractive, more firms were relocated and more vacant lots were
occupied. Furthermore, the results also indicate that the promotion of
widespread industrial estates with poor-quality infrastructures and
amenities is an inefficient policy to attract firms.
Tags
Land-use
decision-support
System
Areas
Districts