Governance of transitions. A simulation experiment on urban transportation

Abstract

The current paper is positioned at the intersection of computer simulation, governance research, and research on infrastructure systems. It proposes a simulation framework, “Simulation of the governance of complex systems” (SimCo), to study the governability of complex socio-technical systems experimentally by means of agent-based modelling (ABM). SimCo is rooted in a sociological macro-micro-macro model of a socio-technical system, taking into account the interplay of agents’ choices (micro) and situational constraints (macro). SimCo depicts the daily routines of users performing their tasks (e.g. going to work) by choosing among different technologies (e.g. modes of transportation). It allows operators to purposefully intervene, for instance in the case of risk management (e.g. preventing congestion) or system transformation (e.g. towards sustainable mobility). Experiments with an urban road transport scenario demonstrate the effects of different modes of governance, revealing that soft control may be the best strategy to govern a complex socio-technical system.