Approaches to Residential Location Modelling 1: Urban Ecological and Spatial Interaction Models (A Review)

This is the first part of a two part paper concerned with modelling the residential subsystem of cities. Three major modes of analysis are reviewed in depth—urban ecological and spatial interaction models in Part 1, urban economic models in Part 2. Developments in each field are documented in a roughly chronological order, and assessments are made of the models themselves and the style of modelling. It will be shown in Part 2 that the diverse experiences gained in each field suggest possibilities for synthesising the best elements and underlying concepts of each approach. The review itself is prefaced by a description of the structure of the residential subsystem. It is stressed at the outset that the emphasis is largely, but not exclusively, on models defined as operational constructs rather than on theoretical propositions.