This paper describes the testing and preliminary analysis of a model examining the dynamics of urban quality of life (QOL) and sustainability. Initial model development was reported in Beck and Stave (2011). In the first study, we examined the factors and feedbacks that governed migration in and out of urban areas. Quality of life was assumed to be the short term motivator behind migration, while sustainability determined the long term livability of a city. Past studies on these topics all have a common thread: sustainability and QOL both pertain to people's relationship to capital. In this study, we illustrate how these forms of capital interact with a city's population and how the resulting attractiveness of those capital stocks creates in migration and out migration. We monitor the accumulation of different forms of capital to evaluate sustainability and use the distribution of capital as proxy for quality of life. Finally, we provide our experience in validating the model using historic population trends of three American cites.
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