Modelling Megacities: An Approach to Modelling Dense Urban Area

In 2010, for the first time in human history, more than half of the world's total population lived in cities; this number is expected to increase to 60% or more by 2050. The goal of this research effort is to create a comprehensive model and modelling framework for megacities, middleweight cities, and urban agglomerations, collectively referred to as dense urban areas. The motivation for this project comes from the United States Army's desire for readiness in all operating environments including dense urban areas. Though there is valuable insight in research to support Army operational behaviors, megacities are of unique interest to nearly every societal sector imaginable. A novel application for determining both main effects and interactive effects between factors within a dense urban area is a Design of Experiments- providing insight on factor causations. Regression Modelling can also be employed for analysis of dense urban areas, providing wide ranging insights into correlations between factors and their interactions. Past studies involving megacities concern themselves with general trend of cities and their operation. This study is unique in its efforts to model a singular megacity to enable decision support for military operational planning, as well as potential decision support to city planners to increase the sustainability of these dense urban areas and megacities.