Using Participatory Computer Simulation to Explore the Process of Urban Evolution

When planners intervene in urban systems they seek in part to generate a positive response from those parts of a city outside of their control, namely the private market and private individuals. This response is difficult to predict due to the fact that the city is a nonlinear system of organized complexity. Models of cities which seek to explain this response are necessarily complicated and dynamic. Where an analytical solution is not possible we turn to computer simulation and interactive visualization in order to understand their output. Allowing human participation in such simulations provides a sandbox in which to experiment with the dynamic behaviour of an urban model and play a part in its evolution. Two possible options for structuring this participation are: (1) toy retail systems, which allow unconstrained experimentation, and (2) games, which impose rules and involve role‐play and competition. To explore these ideas we construct a toy retail system and a two‐player retail game, both of which are derived from an existing agent‐based retail model. We explore the application of these systems to the metropolitan county of South Yorkshire in the UK.