Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1016/j.envsoft.2015.12.009
Title (Primary) Modelling the impacts of urban upgrading on population dynamics
Author Schwarz, N.; Flacke, J.; Sliuzas, R.
Source Titel Environmental Modelling & Software
Year 2016
Department CLE
Volume 78
Page From 150
Page To 162
Language englisch
Keywords Urban upgrading; Informal settlement; Agent-based model; Sub-Saharan Africa; Urban development; Land use change
UFZ wide themes RU6;
Abstract Due to the rapid pace of urbanization, cities in the global South are growing with most of this growth occurring in informal settlements. Urban upgrading aims to improve living conditions in such settlements by improving the infrastructure but might lead to unexpected effects such as income segregation. InformalCity, a spatially explicit agent-based model, simulates the implications of urban upgrading in an artificial city. Our simulation experiments show that maintenance of the upgraded infrastructure, the scope of upgrading efforts, and timing (early vs. late investments) affect infrastructure quality, housing development and income segregation. However, we also find that urban upgrading interventions can have contradictory effects; for example, maintenance increases the quality of infrastructure and income segregation. Thus, policy makers need to establish clear targets for upgrading projects, and empirical evaluation studies should consider studying the impacts of urban upgrading on an entire city's development rather than limiting them to informal settlements.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=17249
Schwarz, N., Flacke, J., Sliuzas, R. (2016):
Modelling the impacts of urban upgrading on population dynamics
Environ. Modell. Softw. 78 , 150 - 162 10.1016/j.envsoft.2015.12.009