Researchers at the University of Washington have won

Researchers at the University of Washington have won $5.2 million in grants from the National Science Foundation to create UrbanSim, a software program capable of forecasting the effects of today’s housing, land-use, and transportation decisions 25 years into the future. UrbanSim has been under development for five years, and is able to integrate the effects of numerous policy choices, rather than just considering each in isolation. The University of Washington will make the program available as open-source software. Prototype versions have been tested in Honolulu, and during the Envision Utah regional planning effort in Salt Lake City. Contact: Paul Waddell at (206) 543-2580 or pwaddell@u.washington.edu.