{"id":44529,"date":"2023-10-20T15:36:38","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:36:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/how-big-data-and-sim-city-are-helping-us-to-build-the-cities-of-the-future-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:36:38","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:36:38","slug":"how-big-data-and-sim-city-are-helping-us-to-build-the-cities-of-the-future-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/how-big-data-and-sim-city-are-helping-us-to-build-the-cities-of-the-future-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"How big data and Sim City are helping us to build the cities of the future – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By 2050, the United Nations predicts that around 66% of the world\u2019s population will be living in urban areas. It is expected that the greatest expansion will take place in developing regions such as Africa and Asia. Cities in these parts will be challenged to meet the needs of their residents, and provide sufficient housing, energy, waste disposal, healthcare, transportation, education and employment.<\/p>\n

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So, understanding how cities will grow \u2013 and how we can make them smarter and more sustainable along the way \u2013 is a high priority among researchers and governments the world over. We need to get to grips with the inner mechanisms of cities, if we\u2019re to engineer them for the future. Fortunately, there are tools to help us do this. And even better, using them is a bit like playing SimCity.<\/p>\n

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A whole new (simulated) world<\/b><\/p>\n


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Cities are complex systems. Increasingly, scientists studying cities have gone from thinking about \u201ccities as machines\u201d, to approaching \u201ccities as organisms\u201d. Viewing cities as complex, adaptive organisms \u2013 similar to natural systems like termite mounds or slime mould colonies \u2013 allows us to gain unique insights into their inner workings. Here\u2019s how.<\/p>\n

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Complex organisms are characterised by individual units that can be driven by a small number of simple rules. As these relatively simple things live and behave, the culmination of all their individual interactions and behaviours generate more widespread aggregate phenomena. For example, the beautiful and complex patterns made by flocking birds are not organised by a leader. They come about because each bird follows some very simple rules about how close to get to each other, which direction to fly in, and how to avoid predators.<\/p>\n

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Similarly, ant colonies can exhibit very sophisticated and seemingly intelligent behaviour. But this sophistication doesn\u2019t come about as a result of a good leader. It is the result of lots of ants following relatively simple rules, without any regard for the bigger picture. It is easy to see how this perspective could be applied to human systems to explain phenomena like traffic jams.<\/p>\n

So, if cities are like organisms, it follows that we should examine them from the bottom-up, and seek to understand how unexpected large-scale phenomena emerge from individual-level interactions. Specifically, we can simulate how the behaviour of individual \u201cagents\u201d \u2013 whether they are people, households, or organisations \u2013 affect the urban environment, using a set of techniques known as \u201cagent-based modelling\u201d.<\/p>\n

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This is where it gets a bit like SimCity. It\u2019s apt that the computer game was originally based on the work of Jay Forrester, a world-renowned system scientist with an interest in urban dynamics. In the game, individual agents are given their own characteristics and rules, and allowed to interact with other agents and the environment. Different behaviour emerges through these interactions and drives the next set of interactions.<\/p>\n

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But while computer games can use generalisations about how people and organisations behave, researchers have to mine available data sets to construct realistic and robust rule sets, which can be rigorously tested and evaluated. To do this effectively, we need lots of data at the individual level.<\/p>\n

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Modelling from big data<\/b><\/p>\n


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These days, increases in computing power and the proliferation of big data give agent-based modelling unprecedented power and scope. One of the most exciting developments is the potential to incorporate people\u2019s thoughts and behaviours. In doing so, we can begin to model the impacts of people\u2019s choices on present circumstances, and the future.<\/p>\n

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For example, we might want to know how changes to the road layout might affect crime rates in certain areas. By modelling the activities of individuals who might try to commit a crime, we can see how altering the urban environment influences how people move around the city, the types of houses that they become aware of, and consequently which places have the greatest risk of becoming the targets of burglary.<\/p>\n

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To fully realise the goal of simulating cities in this way, models need a huge amount of data. For example, to model the daily flow of people around a city, we need to know what kinds of things people spend their time doing, where they do them, who they do them with, and what drives their behaviour.<\/p>\n

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Without good-quality, high-resolution data, we have no way of knowing whether our models are producing realistic results. Big data could offer researchers a wealth of information to meet these twin needs. The kinds of data that are exciting urban modellers include:<\/p>\n

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