Spatial Interaction Models and Chaos Theory

In the previous chapter the relevance of chaos theory, with special emphasis on spatial systems, has been demonstrated. In this context various important issues still deserve further attention. Firstly, a critical issue — according to Sterman (1988) — is that “the significance of the results hinges in large measure on whether the chaotic regimes lie in the realistic region of parameter space or whether they are mathematical curiosities never observed in a real system” (p. 148). Secondly, there are evidently major questions concerning the validity of both model specifications (notably, are model specifications compatible with plausible economic-spatial hypotheses) and of testability of model results (notably, are model results qualitatively or quantitatively justifiable from possible nonlinear patterns in the underlying data set).