Hierarchical Asymmetric Cellular Automata for Multi-scale Modelling of Ecological and Socio-economic Systems

Abstract

Complex ecological and socio-economic systems often have to be modelled spatially ex- plicitly. Therefore, cellular automata (CA) are a widely used method for such applica- tions. But CA in its original form do not allow to model processes on different time scales and also define a common grid for all processes. This problem can be overcome by an extension of CA called HACA, introduced in this short paper. HACA allow multi- ple-scale modelling of spatially explicit processes based on a formally defined extension of CA. HACA can be used for practical applications by extending a C++-framework that allows a maximum of freedom to define local dynamics of cell's behaviour.