The MEPLAN models of Bilbao, Leeds and Dortmund

A trio of closely related land-use/transport interaction models was developed using Marcial Echenique & Partners' software package MEPLAN. The models were for the cities of Bilbao, (Spain), Dortmund (West Germany) and Leeds (England). All were calibrated using data drawn from earlier studies. The three models were used to predict the effects (relative to a base case) of a common programme of land-use and transport policies or scenarios. This paper explains briefly the theoretical basis of the MEPLAN package as applied to urban models such as these three; describes the types of policies that have been assessed; and presents some of the key results.