Abstract
This chapter provides an introduction to agent-based modelling of socio-technical systems. The challenges faced by actors in various infrastructure sectors are illustrated with a range of problems in the way they are operating today and how they may evolve over time. These problems are not easy to solve because such systems have many components and levels, involving different parties who all primarily pursue their own local objectives in a dynamic environment and regulatory regime. Adopting a socio-technical system view implies that a social network of actors and a physical network of technical artefacts together form a complex adaptive system: a multi-actor network determines the development, operation and management of the technical network, which in turn affects the behaviour of the actors. Simulating the system with the agent-based modelling approach and conducting “in silico” experiments helps in understanding this complexity and provides decision support for steering these complex socio-technical systems.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
A so-called SOHO system.
- 2.
References
Allenby, B. (2006). The ontologies of industrial ecology? Progress in Industrial Ecology, an International Journal, 3(1), 28–40.
Crutzen, P., & Stoermer, E. (2000). The Anthropocene. Global Change Newsletter, 41(1), 17–18.
de Bruijn, H., & Herder, P. (2009). System and actor perspectives on sociotechnical systems. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics. Part A. Systems and Humans, 39(5), 981–992.
Dijkema, G. P. J., & Basson, L. (2009). Complexity and industrial ecology foundations for a transformation from analysis to action. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 13(2), 157–164.
Holland, J. (1992). Adaptation in natural and artificial systems. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Kay, J. (2002). On complexity theory, exergy and industrial ecology: some implications for construction ecology. In C. Kibert, J. Sendzimir, & B. Guy (Eds.), Construction ecology: nature as the basis for green buildings (pp. 72–107). London: Spon.
Lukszo, Z., Ferreira, L., & Vrancken, J. (2006). Decision making in transport infrastructures. In Proceedings of the 2006 IEEE international conference on systems, man and cybernetics, Taipei, Taiwan.
Nikolic, I. (2009). Co-evolutionary process for modelling large scale socio-technical systems evolution. PhD thesis, Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands.
Rohilla Shalizi, C. (2006). Methods and techniques of complex systems science: an overview. In Complex systems science in biomedicine (pp. 33–114). Berlin: Springer.
Snelder, M. (2010). Designing robust road networks: a general design method applied to the Netherlands. PhD thesis, Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands.
van Dam, K. H. (2009). Capturing socio-technical systems with agent-based modelling. PhD thesis, Delft University of Technology, Delft, the Netherlands.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Dijkema, G.P.J., Lukszo, Z., Weijnen, M.P.C. (2013). Introduction. In: van Dam, K., Nikolic, I., Lukszo, Z. (eds) Agent-Based Modelling of Socio-Technical Systems. Agent-Based Social Systems, vol 9. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4933-7_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4933-7_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-4932-0
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-4933-7
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)