Snyder, J R; Stephenson, L C; Mackie, J E and Smith, S D (2016) Agent-based modelling and the byzantine: Understanding the construction of antiquity's largest infrastructure project. In: Chan, P W and Neilson, C J (eds.) Proceedings of 32nd Annual ARCOM Conference, 5-7 September 2016, Manchester, UK.
Abstract
Agent-Based Modelling (ABM) is an established method for simulating the actions, interactions and behaviours of autonomous agents. These agents can be individuals or collective organisations and the tool is able to assess the effects of these agents on the system as a whole. Based on theories of emergence and computational sociology, the ideas behind ABM were first developed many years ago but computational power of recent decades has allowed their utility to provide success in areas such as pollution, transmission of disease, culture, effective teams and cognition. Research is not yet widespread in the construction field, but successes have been seen in areas such as supply chain and network management.The aims of this paper are twofold. We intend to demonstrate the applicability of ABM in construction management and archaeological engineering via its use in the understanding of the Byzantine Water Supply system for the ancient city of Constantinople. Unlike similar counterparts in Classical Antiquity, the Eastern Roman Empire’s water supply project is relatively under-explored. Starting in the 4th Century, a series of channels and aqueduct bridges brought fresh water over a length of approximately 200km from the hills and forests of Eastern Thrace to the burgeoning capital of Constantinople and its eventual complex system of reservoirs and cisterns. Understanding the organisation of human and physical resources for what would easily be by today’s standards an extremely large infrastructure project could provide insight for historians, archaeologists, and modern project managers. Part of a larger archaeological engineering research project to understand the hydrological, hydraulic, construction and social aspects of this large project, this study will provide understanding and appreciation of the level of resources, the time required, the transportation of materials and the planning of the construction stages of an ancient construction megaproject.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | agent-based modelling; archaeological engineering; byzantine; heritage engineering; project management. |
| Index terms: | forest, hydraulic, large infrastructure project, cognition, infrastructure project, water supply, construction stages, reservoir, pollution, complex system, agent-based modelling, emergence, project manager, ancient construction, sociology, project management, fresh water, archaeological engineering, megaproject, agent, interaction, social aspect |
| Subjects: | sociology, construction type, fluid mechanics, infrastructure and transport systems, project management theory and practice, social theory, practitioner, profession, research methods, infrastructure engineering, cognitive psychology, modelling and simulation, systems engineering, project delivery, environmental science, strategic project management, behavioral psychology, water management, environmental health |
| Topics: | Construction Technology, Project Management, Research Practice, Roles and Professions, Sustainability, Engineering Principles |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here