The City is a paradigm of a complex system. It has been realized that reductionist global models are not suitable to describe the urban dynamics whose complex nature implies the presence of emergent properties due to physical interactions and the free willing of citizens in the urban space. The governance of the modern metropolis is one of the main problem due to the obvious relation with the quality of life. In particular the urban mobility is a fundamental aspect for the governance and its modeling requires a multidisciplinary approach.
We propose a microdynamical model for urban mobility that takes into account the tendencies and the "intelligent behaviour" of citizens. The model has the possibility of choosing among different kinds of mobility (pedestrian, public transportation, private cars). The interaction with the urban space is performed by introducing the concept of "chronotopos":i.e. a macroscopic urban area with time scheduled activities that causes the citizens mobility requests. The aim of the model is to create a virtual laboratory where the "new physical laws" of urban mobility can be studied taking advantage of the complex systems theory.
last update: 22.05.2006