Towards a Model of Impulse Transmissions for an Urban System

Abstract

Signal flowgraphs are used for developing short-run impulse-transmission models for urban systems characterized by mutual causation, feedback, and lag structures. The method is flexible in the definition of transmission functions, and a number of techniques, such as transfer functions, differential equations, difference equations and their z-transforms, and linear operators based on two-sector multiplier models, are discussed. The matrix equivalent of the signal flowgraph representation is presented as an input—output matrix, and Mason's rule is used for generating a sensitivity matrix for the system.