ABSTRACT
Agent-based models (ABM) consist of interacting agents and an environment that they inhabit. This chapter utilizes NetLogo, a language designed for ABM. ABM is a powerful and flexible approach for simulating complex systems. ABMs allow analysis of problems that are highly non-linear and emergent, in which the dominant processes guiding change can only be seen after the event. ABMs can broadly be divided into two general categories: descriptive models and predictive models. These attempt to represent the system to a certain level of accuracy in order to predict or explore future states of the system. A wide range of software is available for ABM. Of these, NetLogo is one of the most widely used for model prototyping, development and communication. The NetLogo programming language is a well-developed and thoroughly documented modelling environment.
