Simulating the Structure and Localization of Activities for Decision Making and Freight Modelling: The SIMETAB Model

This paper aims to introduce the methodology of the SIMETAB model which attempts to simulate the economic structure of an area, and then produce inputs needed by many urban goods simulation models. The proposed model aims at understanding the economic structure of a city, in order to simulate the urban goods movements depending of the activity using an existing mode. This model's main function is to simulate the number of establishments by category of size and field of activity for a given zone, or to build evolution scenarios from a starting situation. Starting from a known structure (or simulated through SIMETAB), it is possible to make the economic structure of a city evolve. This feature allows decision makers to forecast the impacts of alterations of the urban framework in the future, from basic data such as population and employment statistics.