Using agent-based modelling to explore the influence of canal cruise docks on the crowdedness in the city centre of Amsterdam

Abstract

In the last years, the crowdedness within the city centre of Amsterdam caused by tourists has come to a point where it is causing nuisance and discontent to the residents of Amsterdam. The Municipality of Amsterdam has tried to find solutions to this problem, such as a halt on new hotels within the city centre and by promoting the outer region of Amsterdam it hopes that tourists will spread out. A new measure of the Municipality is to ban the boarding and disembarking docks of the canal cruises from the city centre and to relocate them outside the city centre. This thesis examines the effect of this imminent policy. An agent-based model was developed to research the influence of the locations of the canal cruises on the crowdedness caused by tourists in the city. The developed model simulates the movement patterns of tourists that take a canal cruise based on two scenarios: one with the current dock locations and one with new dock locations outside the city centre. The agents in the model are based on an operationalization of the actual tourists in Amsterdam. The results from the model show that the relocation of the docks could lead to the spread of tourists towards the neighbouring areas of the city centre. However, the city centre remains the most crowded area in the results from the agent-based model, because a lot of the other activities that tourist engage in on their trip in Amsterdam are still clustered in or nearby the city centre.