Chapter 16 MICROSIMULATION OF METROPOLITAN EMPLOYMENT DECONCENTRATION Application of the UrbanSim model in the Tel Aviv region Daniel Felsenstein, Eyal Ashbel and Adi Ben-Nun Department of Geography, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel Abstract: Employment deconcentration has become a major issue on the policy and planning agenda in many metropolitan areas throughout the western world. In recent years, growing evidence indicates that in many developed countries, the deconcentration of employment - particularly of retail centres and offices - has become a key planning issue. This chapter uses the UrbanSim forecasting and simulation model in order to investigate some of the projected changes in land use, land value and sociodemographic characteristics of metropolitan areas undergoing employment deconcentration. The process of model application in the Tel Aviv metropolitan context is described. Two land-use scenarios of very different scale are simulated: a macro-level scenario relating to the imposition of an ‘urban growth boundary’ and a micro-level scenario simulating the effects of shopping mall construction in different parts of the metropolitan area. The results are discussed in terms of the potential and constraints of microsimulation for analyzing metropolitan growth processes. Key words: Employment deconcentration; land use; microsimulation; UrbanSim 1. INTRODUCTION The spatial deconcentration of retail, manufacturing and office activities is a very visible phenomenon in the large metropolitan areas. ‘Edge city’ development is an entrenched metropolitan phenomenon in the US (Lang, 2003). In Europe, incipient edge city development is becoming an increasingly familiar sight on the edges of many large metropolitan areas. Whether on the outskirts of Amsterdam, Paris, Madrid, Bristol or Prague, the picture of out-of-town office developments, shopping centres or industrial