Towards a Multi-Agent-Based Tool for the Analysis of the Social Production and Management Processes in an Urban Ecosystem

Abstract

The SJVG-MAS Project addresses, in an interdisciplinary approach, the development of MAS-based tools for the simulation of the social production and management processes observed in urban ecosystems, adopting as case study the social vegetable garden project conducted at the San Jerónimo Park (Seville/Spain), headed by the confederation “Ecologistas en Acción.” The authors aim at the analysis of the current reality of the SJVG project, allowing discussions on the adopted social management processes, and also for investigating how possible changes in the social organization (e.g., roles assumed by the agents in the organization, actions, behaviors, (in)formal interaction/communication protocols, regulation norms), especially from the point of view of the agent's participation in the decision making processes, may transform this reality, from the social, environmental and economic point of view, then contributing for the sustainability of the project. The MAS was conceived as a multi-dimensional BDI-like agent social system, involving the development of five components: the agents' population, the system's organization, the system's environment, the set of interactions executed among agents playing organizational roles (e.g., communication protocols for reaching agreements) and the normative policy structure (internal regulation established by SJVG community). The aim of this chapter is to discuss the problems faced and to present the solution found for the modeling of SJVG social organization using JaCAMo framework. The chapter shows the integration of the considered dimensions, discussing the adopted methodology, which may be applied in several other contexts.