Systems Thinking and Agent-Based Modelling

Modern challenges---from rising inequality to ecosystem instability, collective decision-making, urban growth, and technological change---are driven by complex interactions that defy simple explanations.

The course introduces systems thinking as a way to see structures, feedback loops, and interaction patterns shaping system-level behaviors.

Building on these foundations, the course integrates systems dynamics and agent-based modelling (ABM) as a powerful method for exploring emergence---how the local actions, rules, and adaptations of individual agents generate collective patterns.

• Apply systems thinking to analyse real-world complex problems

• Identify system structures and interaction mechanisms

• Build and interpret agent-based models as a means to investigate dynamic and nonlinear behaviors

• Critically evaluate models for insight, validity, and decision-making relevance

• ? (50%) Final simulation and report.
• ? (50%)

Basic programming skills, affinity with modelling and systems

• See course guide