Computer-Based Methods for a Socially Sustainable Urban and Regional Planning - CoMStaR

Due to global restructuring and urbanization, urban and regional planning is presented with the great challenge of offering sustainable planning strategies. Through particular consideration of the interaction between spatial and social structures, this research project aims to provide a methodical instrument that helps to factor the social dimension of sustainability into planning. The project comprises three modules. In the first one, a method will be developed, which makes it possible to generate spatial structures with very different characteristics. In the framework of the second module, we first elaborate on graph-based methods for analyzing spatial structures, and secondly we develop an agent-based simulation model for residential segregation. The third module contains an empirical study of the interactions between built structures and socio-spatial organization in the partner city of Dresden. Through the comparison of simulation models and small-scale empirical data, one should be able to derive theoretical concepts which can in turn be used to evaluate specific built structures.