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The new Urban Dynamics Laboratory (UDL) being established by CSIR Built Environment is a numerical modelling and simulation capability that will enable a transdisciplinary team of researchers to look at cities, regions and their development trajectories as complex, adaptive social-ecological systems.
The facility will be used both as a vehicle for developing, refining and validating numerical models and software, and as a practical workbench that can be used for a wide range of research applications, from testing theories developed in urban sustainability science, to providing science-based decision support in urban planning and design to all tiers of government. It will include a range of data sets, tools for modelling, micro-simulation and visualisation of systems interactions and spatial changes, and the necessary hardware to support these tools.
While much has been achieved in modelling land-use, transportation and environmental change, the next frontier to be conquered is the modelling of more complete social-ecological systems, made possible by advances in complexity theory, sustainability science, increasing computing power and new sources of information.
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