emergent/swarm/evolutionary systems etc

[Peter MacKenzie]

Von Thunen?  I had to look that one up, but I realised upon finding it that
I'd been taught it way back in first year geography in high school.  It's
not something they refer to anymore, except as an absolute first step to
understanding settlement structure and distribution.  Looking over it again,
it's easy to see why.  The criteria required for it to work are almost
impossible in the real world, so the models that are taught after it are
generally refinements and novel applications of the basic Von Thunen
concepts.

To take a couple of examples, the bid/rent model of land use is a modern
version that incorporates lines of communication (roads, rails, etc) when
considering land uses, which convert the concentric structure of the Von
Thunen model into something more reminiscent of a spider web.

Models that address sociological phenomenon bring in another layer of
refinement.  Particularly notable are those models that focus on 'quartered'
cities, with self-contained micro-cities serving distinct groups.  These
structures were commonplace during the colonial era, when trade cities were
often a multi-nucleated patchwork of white, indigenous and 'miscellaneous'
societies.

It's common, when addressing any location, to apply a Von Thunen framework
to the layout of the area and use any discrepancies with the idealised
theory as a focus of the study.  Generally though, it's something so
ingrained in the geographer's conscious that it never really gets much
thought.

Cameron Laird <claird at lairds.com> wrote in message
news:106ugk2brruis3a at corp.supernews.com...
> In article <c4ibr0$ngm$1 at news.service.uci.edu>,
> Josiah Carlson  <jcarlson at uci.edu> wrote:
> >> rules.  Given that I have only a basic foothold on the language, does
> >> anybody foresee difficulties for me learning enough to impliment simple
and
> >> experimentally flexible sim-city style simulations (minus fancy
graphics and
> >> llamas) in no more than 2 months (to allow for time to conduct actual
> >> experiments + field observations etc)?  I would be able to engender aid
from
> >> various staff, and the university library should carry titles on the
> >> subject.  Failing that, I could do it the old fashioned way and buy a
how-to
> >> book, but I'd like some opinions on the difficulty of the goal from
people
> >> who've already trancended the non-programmer/programmer barrier.
> >
> >
> >Two months is a pretty tight schedule.  If you're on your toes, I would
> >bet you could learn enough of the langauge to support your ideas in 2
> >months.  Actually programming the thing in 2 months; I wouldn't be able
> >to make that kind of judgement about your abilities.
> .
> .
> .
> Bluntly, I'd bet against it.  There's a daunting amount
> of new material you'll need to learn.  My advice:  we can
> help you refine your project so that the computing part is
> less overwhelming.
>
> 'You read von Thunen, by the way?
> --
>
> Cameron Laird <claird at phaseit.net>
> Business:  http://www.Phaseit.net