CoSMoS 2014

The basic CoSMoS process concerns the design, implementation, and use of a simulation built from scratch. However, the CoSMoS approach may be tailored and adapted for other styles of use. Here we describe how it has been applied to analyse and re-engineer an existing simulation, that of Schelling’s Bounded Neighbourhood Model. We find that using a principled approach to the analysis of an existing simulation facilitates formalisation of the model and reimplementation of the simulation. In the process, several ambiguities in implementing a simulation from the model were revealed. This highlights the importance of formalising a model for clarity and reproducibility in simulation studies, and also for providing new avenues for exploration of, and insight into, the factors influencing its emergent behaviour.