A Social Simulation of Housing Choice and Housing Policy in the EASEL Regeneration District, Leeds UK

Dynamics in the housing market are often discussed qualitatively but much can be explored through computer modelling. By recreating major trends in the housing market, the interplay between housing options, as dictated by policy, and housing choice, when exercised by households, can be examined. Such social simulations can be used to test the validity of policy decisions. For example, policies such as urban regeneration aim to tackle the problem of deprivation at its core by the establishing mixed communities; communities where households are mixed by socioeconomic status. Housing choice and the decision to move are a complex series of choices. Using the technique of agent-based modelling, the potential effects of this regeneration policy will be explored.