MUST-B: A Multiagent Model to Address the Future Challenges of Sustainable Urban Development

Abstract

This chapter presents the MUST-B model based on a systemic modeling that aims to address some of the future challenges of the smart cities. MUST-B stands for “Integrated Modeling of Land-Use – Transport for application in the Bordeaux agglomeration” and is funded by the Region Nouvelle Aquitaine. MUST-B is based on systemic land-use/transport modeling about how the land and property markets operate, and the interdependent factors for selecting the locations of households and employment. MUST-B is an agent-oriented model which simulates household and job location choices. It is based on an auction mechanism that models competition between agents in the real estate market (existing property holdings, including residential, industrial, and tertiary) and in the land property market (from buildable land reserves) over a given timeframe. This auction procedure is based on maximizing the utility provided to the agent by a given location: housing for a household and an area for business activity for employment premises. Utility is a function of several characteristics relating to the space and premises occupied, such as accessibility, surface area, energy quality of the building, notoriety, agglomeration effects and taxes, or property prices, the latter being endogenous. In this chapter, the mechanisms and functioning of the land property and real estate markets, which prevail in MUST-B, are presented. Methodological choices and behavioral guidelines for agents (households/workplaces) are also set out.