Multi Agent Systems For The Simulation Of Land Use Change And Policy Interventions

This chapter showed how MAS models can capture the complexities of human-environment systems. Two alternative designs of agent decision-making algorithms were discussed: heuristics and optimisation. On the basis of an empirical study on soil fertility decline in Uganda, it showed that both the designs can be combined. The empirical application furthermore illustrated the calibration and validation of the agent-based simulation models and their use as tools to explore the impact of alternative policy interventions on land use and socio-economic dynamics.