This volume brings together contributions from leading researchers in the field of agent-based modelling and simulation. This approach has grown out of some recent and innovative ideas in the social sciences, computer sciences, life sciences, physics and game theory. It is proving helpful in understanding complexity in many domains. The opportunities it offers to explore the experimental approach to social and human behaviour is proving of theoretical and empirical value across a wide range of fields.
With contributions from researchers whose work has served to define this new field such as Nigel Gilbert, Robert Axtell (in economics and social science) and Jacques Ferber (in multi-agent systems), as well as practitioners who are working at the cutting edge of the new domain, this collection of essays has been assembled by two of its leading exponents: Frédéric Amblard and Denis Phan.
The research, case studies and theoretical approaches discussed in this book are designed to introduce beginners and experts alike to the current state of play in this new and exciting field of social science.

Contents:
List of Contributors
Acknowledgements
Introduction - Frédéric Amblard and Denis Phan
1. Multi-agent Concepts and Methodologies - Jacques Ferber
2. Introduction to Discrete Event Modelling and Simulation - Eric Ramat
3. Exploring Models by Simulation: Application to Sensitivity Analysis - Vincent Ginot and Hervé Monod
4. Assessment and Validation of Multi-agent Models - Frédéric Amblard, Pierre Bommel and Juliette Rouchier
5. Computational Social Science: Agent-based Social Simulation - Nigel Gilbert
6. The End of the Beginning for Multi-agent Systems Social Science - Robert Axtell
7. Agent Models in Urban Geography - Lena Sanders
8. Towards an Epistemology of Multi-agent Simulation in Social Sciences - Pierre Livet
9. Modelling With and For Stakeholders - Nils Ferrand
10. From Networks of Automata to Agent-based Models: Discrete Choices with Social Influence - Denis Phan
11. Modelling, Implementing and Exploring Agent-based Models: An Example - Gilles Daniel
12. An Introduction to UML for Modelling in the Human and Social Sciences - Pierre Bommel and Jean-Pierre Müller
13. Comparison of Three Implementations of Schelling's Spatial Segregation Model - Eric Daude and Patrice Langlois
14. Emergence in Multi-agent Systems: Conceptual and   Methodological Issues - Jean Louis Dessalles, Jean Pierre Müller and Denis Phan
Appendix 1 - Epistemology in a Nutshell: Theory, Model, Simulation and Experiment - Denis Phan, Anne-Françoise Schmid and Franck Varenne
Appendix 2 - Philosophy of Social Science in a Nutshell: From Discourse to Model and Experiment - Michel Dubois and Denis Phan
Index