Patterson, Z., and Bierlaire, M. (2007)

An UrbanSim Model of Brussels in a Short Timeline

Swiss Transport Research Conference, Monte Verita, Switzerland

UrbanSim is an increasingly popular integrated transportation land-use model. A particularly attractive feature of UrbanSim is its disaggregate frame of analysis. This characteristic means it requires much land-use and socio-economic data at a fine scale. This research was conceived as a feasibility study. In particular, it asked ‘Is it possible to mount an UrbanSim model with relatively aggregate data (from a TRANUS application) and limited human resources in three to four months?’ The conclusions are as follows. It was possible to mount an UrbanSim model with the limited resources and data available. The UrbanSim sub-models estimated were not very robust, compromising simulation results. Weaknesses of the sub-models were not due to the use of disaggregate data. The weaknesses were due to insufficient exploitation of existing data and the lack of some critical data. It was not possible to mount a travel model AND an UrbanSim model given the time and resource constraints.