Alonso’s Systemic Model: A Review and Representation

Abstract

This article reviews the development of Alonso’s systemic model and presents a seemingly meaningful new departure. It first traces the evolution of Alonso’s own views of the model and then surveys the various efforts of estimating the model and interpretations by other researchers. Issues and problems are identified. A model representing the observed data in terms of the variables in the systemic model is proposed. It is shown that the model is identifiable, interpretable without ambiguity, and can be used for predictive use as well. Further extensions and research issues are discussed.

Alonso's Theory of Movements: Developments in Spatial Interaction Modeling

“…We introduce the GTM following Alonso (1973), but not in his notation. A survey of later work of Alonso is given by Hua (1999). We will discuss these only briefly.…”

“…Alonso developed his model further in some working papers (Alonso (1974(Alonso ( , 1976(Alonso ( , 1986). A review of these is given by Hua (1999). The model became wider known after its publication as "A Theory of Movements" (Alonso (1978)).…”

“…Standard works on Spatial Interaction Models as Batten and Boyce (1986), Fotheringham and O'Kelly (1989) and Nijkamp and Reggiani (1992) do mention Alonso's model, but in most cases the model is not integrated in the treatment and no further pathways are explored. The situation has been sketched strikingly by Hua (1999): "Many have been intrigued by this theory, and tried to clarify, to put it in operation, or to develop it further. But is seems frustration has prevailed and enthusiasm has been dampened somewhat now twenty years after the theory's publication.…”

“…Secondly, there is not an obvious single way to formulate the equations. Various representations of the model are possible, which can be derived from each other by substitutions or transformations (Hua (1999), Alonso (1978)). And thirdly, confusion arises around these variables in the process of estimation and prediction, as they are unobserved endogenous variables.…”

“…In this way we want to relate the GTM to the literature on Spatial Interaction Models. In the choice of additional symbols needed in the GTM we follow Alonso (1978) and Hua (1999).…”