AGENT-BASED MODELING OF HUMANS AND THEIR ENVIRONMENT (Invited Presentation)

Agent-based modeling is a modeling approach frequently used across many disciplines, especially social and ecological sciences. It enables to create simulation models of the actions of agents representing individuals, households, colonies, cells, nations, etc. The micro-level behavioral rules of the agents are used to study the macro-level outcomes of complex-adaptive systems. There is an increasing interest to connect geoscience models with agent-based models to represent human behavior impacting geological processes.

In this talk I will first discuss the agent-based modeling method, especially the challenge to represent human behavior as algorithmic statements. Then I will show a number of examples of collaborations between social scientists and geoscientists using agent-based modeling, and I end with a brief discussion on model-coupling, a broader trend in modeling that may enable to develop more integrated models with expert knowledge.