Cultural Urbanisation: The use of behavioural simulation in the design of indigenous urban settlements

<p><b>This thesis conducts an investigation into the use of multi-agent systems as a computational design research tool that implements a range of behavioural parameters relating to the design of specific cultural environments for Māori. It aims to offer an alternative methodology to the traditionally ‘top-down’ approach to Māori housing solutions within urban contexts, choosing instead to incorporate parameters that can be specific to a representative agent and their subsequent negotiation and interactions with other agents within a simulated environment.</b></p> <p>This methodology works under the premise that by piecing together behavioural parameters that are specific to traditional Māori cultural environments, multi-agents can simulate these behaviours with respect to spatial occupation, establishing a system by which to construct the spatial organisation of a community of agents, and subsequently the communities they represent.</p> <p>The use of cultural criteria enables us to contrast the research with standard multi agent simulations that operate on more generic rules of interaction. As a body of research it places an emphasis on the social and the collective identity or cohesion of bodies of single agents within a modern tribal structure as the main organisational vector. It is the hope that this methodology could lend itself to more diverse projects, aiding the design of spatial organisation for other socially orientated communities with needs beyond that of what can be provided by the western ‘top-down’ approach to architecture.</p>