Exploring the DNA of our regions: Classification of outputs from the SLEUTH model

Abstract

The SLEUTH urban growth model is a cellular automata model that has been widely used by geographers to examine the rural to urban transition as a physical process and to produce forecasts of future urban growth [1]. Previous SLEUTH applications have generally been limited to individual model applications, with little to no comparison of model results [2]. Building upon research by Silva and Clarke [3], and borrowing from their metaphorical comparison of urban growth characteristics to genetic DNA, this research distills a combination of actual city and model behavior in a controlled environment to provide for comparisons between disparate model applications. This work creates a digital "petri dish" capable of producing normalized model forecasts from previously incomparable results. Results indicate that despite the inherent differences between actual model results, sufficient similarities were observed among the forecasts to warrant the creation of an urban behavioral taxonomy, providing for direct comparison of the results. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006.