Abstract
The modeling of the dynamics of settlement systems can be developed at different geographical scales according to the theoretical framework which is chosen: the micro-level of the households and entrepreneurs, the meso-level of cities and regions, the macro-level of hierarchical and spatial structures. The underlying hypotheses and the links between these three levels are discussed in the case of a multi-agent system (MAS) approach. The question of which are the driving forces of change in a settlement system is raised. Then different ways for building hybrid models combining dynamics referring to different scales are discussed. I refer to the example of SimPop, a MAS model which simulates the emergence and the evolution of a settlement system on a period of 2000 years, in order to illustrate how a function of urban governance that ensures both cognitive and decisional capacities for the evolution of cities can be introduced in a model whose rules are principally built on meso-level regularities.
Published Version
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