Urban Conventions and Residential Location Choice Exploring a Heterodox Perspective of Urban Economics with a Spatially-Explicit Simulation Model

Author(s)

Feitosa, Flavia F. ; Monteiro, Antonio Miguel V. ; Pinto, NN ; Dourado, J ; Natalio, A

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: INTERNATIONAL PROCEEDINGS ON CELLULAR AUTOMATA MODELING FOR URBAN AND SPATIAL SYSTEM, CAMUSS 2012; v. N/A, p. 14-pg., 2012-01-01.

Abstract

Since the 1960s, an increasing number of studies have focused on investigating the determinants of urban residential location choices. Despite the valuable contribution of these pioneer studies to the development of urban and spatial economics, many researchers have doubted its applicability to the real world, criticizing some of its simplified assumptions and, most important, the underlying idea that the spontaneous action of market forces promotes higher levels of consumer satisfaction and efficiency of resource use. Contributing to this debate, this paper presents a spatially-explicit simulation model built to explore an alternative perspective to the one provided by neoclassical models of urban economics. This perspective is based on the theoretical framework proposed by the economist Pedro Abramo in his book "The Kaleidoscopic City", which relies on the heterodox economic literature to develop a new interpretation of how residential choices are made. In this paper, we present simulation experiments that explore the role of entrepreneurs' actions in influencing the residential location choice of families and the emergence of different global and local residential patterns in the city. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 10/06532-6 - Climate change and socio-environmental vulnerability in coastal zones: modeling and simulation of urban occupation dynamics in the northern coast of São Paulo
• Grantee: Flávia da Fonseca Feitosa
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral