Using Reactive Agents to Mimic the Dissemination of Slums in Cities

In this paper we present a multi-agent system based on a very simple reactive agents system paradigm, in order to simulate the dynamics of land- use in urban environments, Our agents operate on a cell-based framework built from Geographical Information Systems raster images, aerophotos or satelite images. Using cellular automata and agent concepts we can model, simulate, predict and dynamically visualize the growth and dissemination of slums, and envision future possible scenarios, The motivation of this research has its ground on some previsions saying that in the next three decades the population that lives in slums will duplicate, reaching 32% of the total world population. In this context, building scenarios related to the growing of existent slums, the birth of new ones, and their evolution, would be very useful for urban planning and for the elaboration of social policies aiming to minimize the impact caused by the uncontrolled growing of slums.