ABM course in MACSS program taught Spring 2024.
Each week has a separate folder, skill, and model / component that we'll cover. Readings are below, including models / code are here.
Textbook: You MAY find the following text helpful, but note that it covers NetLogo instead of using Python: Agent-Based and Individual-Based Modeling: A Practical Introduction, Second Edition. ISBN: 0691190836
Other: you might want to skim through this intro to Mesa. Note that we have a cheatsheet here (frequently updated).
| Week | Skill focus / Substantive focus | Goal for week. | Classic model | Readings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| week 1 | Intro & background | Understand basics and some of greatest hits | Game of life / Wolfram | Textbook Ch 1 |
| Kazil, Jackie, David Masad, and Andrew Crooks. 2020. “Utilizing Python for Agent-Based Modeling: The Mesa Framework.” In Social, Cultural, and Behavioral Modeling, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, eds. Robert Thomson et al. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 308–17. | ||||
| Epstein, Joshua M. 2008. “Why Model?” https://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/11/4/12.html (October 3, 2022). | ||||
| Thursday | Elster, Jon. (1998) “A Plea for Mechanisms.” In Peter Hedström and Richard Swedberg (eds.), Social Mechanisms: An Analytical Approach to Social Theory (New York: Cambridge University Press), ch. 3. | |||
| Norling, Emma et al (2013). “Informal Approaches to Developing Simulation Models.” Chapter 4 of Simulating Social Complexity | ||||
| week 2 | Agents & Initializing | Create new agent type (how??) OR initialize the world differently | Schelling | Schelling, Thomas C. 1969. “Models of Segregation.” The American Economic Review 59(2): 488–93. |
| Silver, Daniel et al (2021). “Venues and segregation: A revised Schelling model.” PLoS One, 16(1) | ||||
| Müller, Birgit et al. 2013. “Describing Human Decisions in Agent-Based Models – ODD + D, an Extension of the ODD Protocol.” Environmental Modelling & Software 48: 37–48. | ||||
| week 3 | Emergence, parameters, & visualizations | Add additional parameter value | Boids / Flocking | Grimm, Volker et al. 2005. “Pattern-Oriented Modeling of Agent-Based Complex Systems: Lessons from Ecology.” Science 310(5750): 987–91. |
| Ants (brief) | Thompson, W. A., Vertinsky, I., & Krebs, J. R. (1974). The Survival Value of Flocking in Birds: A Simulation Model. Journal of Animal Ecology , 43(3), 785–820. https://doi.org/10.2307/3537 | |||
| Netlogo web app of flocking | ||||
| Ch 8 from textbook | ||||
| week 4 | Sensing / Environment, visualization / DataCollector | Add / change value of environment | Schelling | Crooks, Andrew T., and Christian J. E. Castle. 2012. “The Integration of Agent-Based Modelling and Geographical Information for Geospatial Simulation.” In Agent-Based Models of Geographical Systems, eds. Alison J. Heppenstall, Andrew T. Crooks, Linda M. See, and Michael Batty. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, 219–51. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8927-4_12 (October 3, 2022). |
| Greedy cows (brief) | Jordan, René, Mark Birkin, and Andrew Evans. 2012. “Agent-Based Modelling of Residential Mobility, Housing Choice and Regeneration.” In Agent-Based Models of Geographical Systems, eds. Alison J. Heppenstall, Andrew T. Crooks, Linda M. See, and Michael Batty. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, 511–24. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8927-4_25 | |||
| preview Wolf / sheep | Mesa source code behind Data Collector | |||
| Mesa guide to Data Collector | ||||
| optional: Groff, Elizabeth R., Shane D. Johnson, and Amy Thornton. 2019. “State of the Art in Agent-Based Modeling of Urban Crime: An Overview.” Journal of Quantitative Criminology 35(1): 155–93. | ||||
| week 5 | Scheduling & Updating | Goal: change the updating scheme of popular model | PD Grid | Comer, Kenneth W., and Andrew G. Loerch. 2013. “The Impact of Agent Activation on Population Behavior in an Agent-Based Model of Civil Revolt.” Procedia Computer Science 20: 183–88. |
| New Agent Set developed by Mesa with updating | ||||
| Alizadeh, Meysam, and Claudio Cioffi-Revilla. “Activation Regimes in Opinion Dynamics: Comparing Asynchronous Updating Schemes.” : 22. | ||||
| week 6 | Docking | Export model data | Proposal workshop | (revisit) Comer, Kenneth W., and Andrew G. Loerch. 2013. “The Impact of Agent Activation on Population Behavior in an Agent-Based Model of Civil Revolt.” Procedia Computer Science 20: 183–88. |
| week 7 | Analysis / YAAWN | Critical re-evaluation of model | Wolf / sheepRumor Mill (mention) | O’Sullivan, David et al. 2016. “Strategic Directions for Agent-Based Modeling: Avoiding the YAAWN Syndrome.” Journal of Land Use Science 11(2): 177–87. |
| Janssen, Marco A., and Elinor Ostrom. 2006. “Empirically Based, Agent-Based Models.” Ecology and Society 11(2).(February 9, 2023). | ||||
| Lamperti, Francesco, Andrea Roventini, and Amir Sani. 2018. “Agent-Based Model Calibration Using Machine Learning Surrogates.” Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control 90: 366–89. doi:10.1016/j.jedc.2018.03.011. | ||||
| week 8 | Extensions / Complications | (student submissions) | ||
| week 9 | (wrap) | Demos |
Some readings from David Peterson's suggestions -- thanks!