Alternative Urban Futures Research Articles

A college course in constructing urban simulation models: a case study involving Middletown, Connecticut

This paper presents a description of an urban simulation course conducted by the authors at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut. In part, it is intended to offer guidelines for the construction of urban simulations in the college classroom, since the procedure followed here could be applied to almost any urban environment. Its primary aim, however, is to describe one mechanism for looking at alternative urban futures—futures which are not certain, but are reasonable to expect. The potential of this mechanism is attested to by the fact that the combined efforts of the writters and the students did correctly predict two significant local events: a 4-mill tax increase and the placing of police in the public high school.