MaaSim: A Liveability Simulation for Improving the Quality of Life in Cities

TL;DR

MaaSim is an open-source liveability simulation tool for cities that integrates AI-driven scoring and optimization algorithms to assist urban planning and improve quality of life, with positive user feedback.

Contribution

This work introduces MaaSim, an open-source urban liveability simulation platform with an integrated AI module and optimization algorithms, enhancing decision-making in city planning.

Findings

Random Forest achieved 0.83 recall in liveability score prediction.

eps-MOEA was identified as the most suitable optimization algorithm.

User tests showed positive responses to the simulation tool.

Abstract

Urbanism is no longer planned on paper thanks to powerful models and 3D simulation platforms. However, current work is not open to the public and lacks an optimisation agent that could help in decision making. This paper describes the creation of an open-source simulation based on an existing Dutch liveability score with a built-in AI module. Features are selected using feature engineering and Random Forests. Then, a modified scoring function is built based on the former liveability classes. The score is predicted using Random Forest for regression and achieved a recall of 0.83 with 10-fold cross-validation. Afterwards, Exploratory Factor Analysis is applied to select the actions present in the model. The resulting indicators are divided into 5 groups, and 12 actions are generated. The performance of four optimisation algorithms is compared, namely NSGA-II, PAES, SPEA2 and eps-MOEA, on three established criteria of quality: cardinality, the spread of the solutions, spacing, and the resulting score and number of turns. Although all four algorithms show different strengths, eps-MOEA is selected to be the most suitable for this problem. Ultimately, the simulation incorporates the model and the selected AI module in a GUI written in the Kivy framework for Python. Tests performed on users show positive responses and encourage further initiatives towards joining technology and public applications.