Chapter 3. Modelling Dynamic Systems
The Coordinating Network
Modelling Symbols in Use: A Closer Look at Drug-related Crime
Equation Formulations
Experiments with the Model of Drug-related Crime
Benefits of Model Building and Simulation
Causal loops diagrams are very effective for expanding the boundary of your thinking and for communicating important feedbacks. However, they are not especially good as the basis for a full-blown model and simulator that computes dynamics and performance through time. For a working model, we need better resolution of the causal network. It turns out, not surprisingly, that there is more to causality and dynamics than words and arrows alone. The main new concepts required to make simulators are introduced in this chapter. They transform a simple sketch of causality into a portrait (or better still an animation) that brings feedback loops to life, by specifying the realistic processes that lie behind causal links as the basis for an algebraic model and simulator.