Urban Dynamics

by Jay Wright Forrester, John F. Collins (Foreword)

In this controversial book, Jay Forrester presents a computer model describing the major internal forces controlling the balance of population, housing, and industry within an urban area. He then simulates the life cycle of a city and predicts the impact of proposed remedies on the system. Startling in its conclusions, this book became the basis of a major research effort that has influenced many government urban-policy decisions.

Genres: Game Design, Nonfiction, Economics, Mathematics

Paperback

First published February 1, 1969

Reviews

[Siraaj Khandkar]

It is really hard to find a (reasonably-priced) copy of this, but I stumbled on a paper which claims to give "a tutorial description of Forrester's work":

"A Critique of Forrester's Model of an Urban Area" http://jimgray.azurewebsites.net/pape...

on first glance it seems like a reasonable one.

Excerpt from the paper:

"Forrester's main interest is in modeling the city in the
abstract. He is not interested in fitting his model to any
particular city or set of data but rather is interested in
discovering the essential aspects (state variables) of the city
and expressing the relationships between these states in
mathematical terms. "

Which sounds excellent!

[Kristof Verbeke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Learns some principles of systems and applied then to the Urban City. Should be part of the curriculum of Urban planners or anyone in politics and policy making at all.

[Ivan Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely not for everyone but as a System Dynamics modeller, this is probably a must read. I am working on a book about a model I wrote about the refugee crisis and Urban Dynamics provides an excellent example of the gravity model of migration and an excellent example of how to document a System Dynamics model.

[Nederhome Leliman]

i have one and i want to sell it only i live in holland if you have intrest you can send my a mail
nedertwee@live.nl