[SwarmFest2004] Abstract Submission: Robinson

[dtrobins]

Good day,

Below is an abstract for submission to this years swarmfest2004. 
I look forward to your response.

Thank you,
Derek Robinson


Site Evaluation and Cultural Influence Extensions to a Residential Location
Model

Why do residential development patterns exist the way they do today? What are
the factors driving and constraining residential site selection? A number of
theories and mechanisms have been proposed to answer these general questions in
residential location theory. The purpose of the presented research is to extend
work in this field by introducing mechanisms related to heterogeneous site
evaluation and cultural influence. Patterns of clustering in urban development
patterns are analysed to determine if the introduction of these mechanisms
cause significant differences in the spatial settlement patterns of residents,
why they occur, and what these differences mean. While site evaluation and
cultural influence mechanisms are topics of influence in a number of other
fields, they have yet to be incorporated into residential location models.
Therefore the proposed mechanisms may provide new types of explanation for why
residential patterns emerge the way they do. Because the proposed mechanisms
extend those that already exist they may be thought of as complementary rather
than in competition with them.



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Derek T. Robinson
PH.D. Student
University of Michigan
www.derekthomasrobinson.com