activity allocation model

A type of planning model used to determine the location of activity within an area.

The first stage is to make as accurate a forecast as possible of future population, industry, trade, housing, and so on. This may be done through extrapolation, or through the use of methods such as economic base theory. Future needs are indicated—the simplest way is to consider separate sub-models for each land use, such as residential, industrial, retail—and the planner then allocates new developments to the most suitable points in the area, often using the gravity model. It is then possible to model the flows of people within the area which result from this planning to see how the various sub-models fit together.