Land-Use Dynamic Simulator (LUDAS): A multi-agent system model for simulating spatio-temporal dynamics of coupled human-landscape system. I. Structure and theoretical specification

This paper presents the concept and theoretical specification of a multi-agent based model for spatio-temporal simulation of a coupled human-landscape system. The model falls into the class of all agents, where the human population and the landscape environment are all self-organized interactive agents. The model framework is represented by four components: (i) a system of human population defining specific behavioural patterns of farm households in land-use decision-making according to typological livelihood groups, (ii) a system of landscape environment characterising individual land patches with multiple attributes, representing the dynamics of crop and forest yields as well as land-use/cover transitions in response to household behaviour and natural constraints, (iii) a set of policy factors that are important for land-use choices, and (iv) a decision-making procedure integrating household, environmental and policy information into land-use decisions of household agents. In the model, the bounded-rational approach, based on utility maximisation using spatial multi-nominal logistic functions, is nested with heuristic rule-based techniques to represent decision-making mechanisms of households regarding land use. Empirical verifications of the model's components and the application of the model to a watershed in Vietnam for integrated assessments of policy impacts on landscape and community dynamics are subjects of a companion paper. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.