Comprehensive Regional Socioeconomic Simulation System

Abstract

This paper describes a comprehensive regional socioeconomic simulation system by using a personal computer. The system is composed of an interactive macroframe model (KMF model), a multizonal socioeconomic simulation model (OURS model), an interactive data retrieval and display subsystem (IDRS), and four kinds of data bases. In the system, the Kansai region of Japan is used as an example. The KMF model forecasts the employment by industrial sectors and the population in the whole Kansai region. The forecasted results are used as the exogenous variables of the OURS model. In the OURS model, the whole region is divided into 120 zones, and fundamental socioeconomic indicators, such as population, employment, and land‐use area are forecasted for each zone. The IDRS subsystem helps the model user easily retrieve and display the required data in investigating the simulation results. In this paper, the problem of population aging in Osaka, Japan, is analyzed as an example of the applications of the constructed system. It is anticipated that the system can be used in regional policy‐making for each zone.