Probabilistic flows of inhabitants in urban areas and self-organization in housing markets

Abstract

We propose a simple probabilistic model to explain the spatial structure of the rent distribution of housing market in city of Sapporo. Here we modify the mathematical model proposed by Gauvin et. al. Especially, we consider the competition between two distances, namely, the distance between house and center, and the distance between house and office. Computer simulations are carried out to reveal the self-organized spatial structure appearing in the rent distribution. We also compare the resulting distribution with empirical rent distribution in Sapporo as an example of cities designated by ordinance. We find that the lowest ranking agents (from the viewpoint of the lowest `willing to pay') are swept away from relatively attractive regions and make several their own `communities' at low offering price locations in the city.