Tommaso Ferraresi (p), Lilit Popoyan, Andrea Roventini, Leonardo Ghezzi

In this work we present an agent-based model of growth and business cycles with interregional and intersector features aiming at tackling the above mentioned developments and provide the regional policy makers with a toolkit to perform consistent scenario analyses and ex ante policy evaluations. Our model augments an ABM with schumpeterian growth and keynesian cycles with an intersector structure in the consumption good sector and allows for interregional and international trade. The current version of the model, still focused upon a standalone economy, is able to replicate many stylized facts characterizing regional macroeconomic dynamics, from sustained growth paths, to business cycles and periods of persistent economic stagnation. Moreover, several experiments are implemented so as to evaluate how finance, technological regimes, and different structures of the economy might give rise to diverse development trajectories.

Yuval Rubinstein (p), Pnina Plaut

Promoting planning for sustainable development has long been an important goal for many communities. There are several frameworks that develop a set of goals and principles for planning sustaining places, usually related to the united nations' New Urban Agenda. However, few programs develop evaluation framework for these set of goals and principles. Cities are complex networks while the set of goals and principles of urban plans are simple “tree like” structures. Every practice in a city planning framework has a different influence on achieving the framework's goals, based on its centrality in the network.
In this paper we developed a method for evaluating the sustainable plan structure itself taking as our case study the “Comprehensive Plan Standards for Sustaining Places” of the American Planning Association from 2015. We focus on the role of sustainable practices from a network point of view. The aim of the paper is to identify and analyze the interconnections among planning practices for sustaining places, their network characteristics, the urban systems involved and their role in sustainable practices. We used a qualitative approach to analyze the plan text resulting in a quantitative network measures to understand how sustainability principles and practices are constructed within the plan's guidelines. Four types of network analysis measures were calculated: Degree centrality (counts the number of connections each plan’s element has), Closeness centrality (measures the distance of an element from all other elements, indicating the ease of information spread in the network), Betweenness centrality (high betweenness centrality elements act as key bridges within the network. They can also be potential single points of failure) and Eigenvector centrality (measures how well connected an element is to other well -connected elements. High Eigenvector centrality element is a leader of the network even if it does not have the strongest local influences).

David Castells-Quintana (p), Tom McDErmott , Melanie Krause

We study the relationship between changes in weather patterns and the spatial distribution of population and economic activity within countries. Our unique global dataset combines census data, satellite data on built-up areas, and light intensity at night with climatic data for the period 1950-2015. We find that deteriorating climatic conditions are associated with more urbanisation. This happens across the whole urban structure, with urbanisation increasing in both smaller and larger cities. But we also find that weather variation can alter the national urban structure, including the pattern of urban concentration, as well as the size, density and spatial structure of large cities.