Together with colleagues of Delft and Wageningen, Arend works on solutions that improve the understanding of city dynamics. He develops methods, techniques and tools to simulate dynamic city processes caused by humans. To show how people behave in cities and what effects are caused by it, Arend employs participatory modeling techniques plus agent-based modeling.
The effects of tourists moving through the city is a good example of Arend’s simulation work. Social-psychological models of behavior help to make the effects of interactions between citizens and tourists visible. This then enables stakeholders to jointly explore future scenarios on the management of tourists. Other projects involve simulation of boats in the canals and the effect of littering behavior.
Besides his work in the city, Arend is involved in various projects related to food and environmental sustainability and resilience. He also coordinates and teaches courses about geo-information science and complex adaptive systems.
Arend pursues to understand complexity and to develop methods and techniques that help people to better understand the world act in.
“Let’s try not to complicate complexity.”
Arend Ligtenberg
Urban Data Science Coordinator & Researcher Spatial Urban Data Toolkit
