Multi-Agent Modeling to Understand the Impact of Stakeholders´ Decisions in a Residential Land Development Project in Southern Alberta

The objective of this project is to build a multi-agent system to simulate the decision making process of stakeholders in a residential land development project and the influence of such decisions on land-use resources. The environment over which decisions are made is Strathmore, Alberta, where competition for land-use resources is increasing as a result of its proximity to the City of Calgary. The stakeholders simulated as agents are the citizens, the town planner and the developer. Interviews were conducted with representatives of each group to gather information about their goals, decision making process and influence. Simulations were performed over 30 years with a one year interval to mimic different land development scenarios. The model generates a series of land-use maps showing the changes in the environment based on the goals and decisions of agents. Conceptual and operational validation is currently done with experts. When fully tested, this model will represent a valuable tool to better understand the complex interactions among several stakeholders involved in the land redesignation process and forecast the cumulative impact of their decisions on the environment.