The interaction of segregation and suburbanization in an agent-based model of residential location

馬妍　
The interaction of segregation and suburbanization in an agent-based model of residential location
Wrote by: Ciriyam Jayaprakash, Keith Warren, Elena Irwin, Kan Chen
Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design Vol. 36, 2009, 989 -1007
http://www.envplan.com/epb/fulltext/b36/b33029.pdf

Abstract:
A model of the interaction of segregation and suburbanization in determining residential location is prsented in this paper. The model incorporates differential income between two classes of agents, a simplified market mechanism for the purchase of housing, and a simple geographic structure of one central city and four symmetrically arranged suburbs. Agents derive utility from neighborhood racial composition, the size of their lot, private amenities that are specific to neighborhoods, and public amenities that stretch across municipalities. It is found that the public amenities term leads to a positive feedback loop in which migration to suburbs increases the public amenities in those municipalities while lowering amenities in the central city, thus sparking further migration. When the minority agents are uniformly less affluent than the majority agents, this dynamic produces discontinuity in segregation as measured by centralization. Such discontinuities are typical of first-order phase transitions. When minority and majority incomes overlap, significant regions appear over which there are multistable equilibria at high and low levels of segregation, along with considerable sensitivity to the initial distribution of minority agents.
Agent utility:
Racial-composition preference:
The proportion of ratial was considered
Spatial preference:
Space available in block and congestion were considered
Preference for private amenities:
The neighborhood of the cell and disposable income of household were considered
Preference for public amenities:
Taxes collected in municipality was considered