An Agent-Based Model of Social Fabric Seen as an Emergent Behavior

Abstract

The study of cities and their social phenomena have been carried out historically from a “classical focused discipline approach” by areas such as sociology, psychology, anthropology, and urbanism. However, over the past years this has evolved to a multidisciplinary approach with other areas being involved including computational sciences, complex systems, and network science. For instance, an area of interest within this new approach is the study of social fabric in cities. In this work, we study this phenomenon and present a conceptual model to establish the relationship between social fabric and other city phenomena (segregation and encounters). Then by using a proposed three layer abstraction we are able to associate emergent behaviors to social agents and the physical city. Finally, we derive an agent-based model and a study case for the city of Zapopan in Mexico where problems related to the social fabric and social segregation has been historically identified. Based on simulations and empirical evidence we conclude that the perception of the physical city affects the decision-making in mobility and the consequent segregation both related to social fabric.