The UrbanSim Project: Urban Simulation

I came across this project and a video about it when I was doing a search on iTunes.

"The process of planning and constructing a new light rail system, expanding a freeway, or modifying zoning and land use plans is often politically charged. The goal in the UrbanSim project is to provide tools for planners, engaged citizens, and other stakeholders to be able to consider different scenarios, and then to evaluate these scenarios by modeling the resulting patterns of urban growth and redevelopment, of transportation usage, and of environmental impacts, over periods of 20- 30 years. Alan Borning, CSE, University of Washington, describes recent work on and applications of the project and gives some demonstrations."

The video is about an hour long and is produced by the Computer Science & Engineering Department as the University of Washington.

You can watch the video on the Research Channel.