254: Simulated Lab: An Argument Toward The Use of Urban Simulations

How to observe urbanism? How to conduct experiments in cities? Real life observation and experimentation involve challenges from defining what to observe to how to observe. First, definitional issues: the amount and nature of information involved. Then, problems of scale: the quantity of information of each nature and timespan, as cycles can last millennia. For experimentation, additional obstacles: ensuring reproducibility and controlling variables in urban phenomena, coordinating extensive resources, and addressing ethical considerations for populations affected by eventual interventions. In this context, simulations emerge as a possible answer, allowing for temporal adjustments, selection of observation objects, and minimal costs. Although simulations do not replace reality, they offer a useful representation of cities, enabling to explore interactions and impact of variables as well as limits and implications of hypothesis. This article presents two simulations developed while advocating for simulations in urbanism research, proposing Agent-Based Modeling as a framework for experiments.