Agent-Based Modeling—A Tool for Urban Resilience Research?

Resilience-related topics have been gaining importance for urban planners and policy makers over the last decades. In this chapter, we argue that agent-based modeling (ABM) offers a promising tool to assess and test resilience-related measures which are planned and implemented in urban neighborhoods. We demonstrate potentials, but also limitations of the method, using the concept of urban electricity sharing as a demonstration case. Electricity sharing systems are based on decentralized electricity generation and large batteries. The availability of such a system can provide local communities with a back-up system during black-outs, which may occur in the aftermath of catastrophic events such as natural or man-made disasters. When real-world tests are costly or impossible, agent-based models can be used to investigate possible collective behaviors and inefficiencies of such a system. Despite limitations when extrapolating results from simulation runs to the real world, and several other challenges, we conclude that the utilization of agent-based models can very well aid planners and policy makers in designing more resilient cities.