| Summary: | The Bodø2024 project marks a significant cultural milestone as Bodø becomes the European Capital of Culture (ECoC), the first city above the Arctic Circle to receive this title. Throughout 2024, Bodø and the surrounding Nordland region will host a plethora of cultural events and initiatives, embracing the unique geographical and cultural characteristics of the Arctic. The European Commission (EC) requires the organiser of the capital of culture (Bodø2024 IKS) to conduct an evaluation of the project. Bodø2024 has entered into an agreement with Nord University to assess the impacts of Bodø as EcoC. This evaluation was conducted by a group of researchers affiliated with the Nord University Business School as part of the Monitor2024 project. Evaluating the effects of Bodø2024 on the population’s urban and regional development is a challenging task, as the relationships between cultural investments and socioeconomic outputs are often indirect and difficult to quantify. Interactions between multiple aspects, from direct subsidies to local artists to increased life satisfaction, create a complex multidisciplinary picture that cannot be reduced to a simple chart connecting causes and consequences. To manage this complexity, the agent-based modelling (ABM) methodology was selected. This approach involves simulating the actions and interactions of autonomous agents (both individuals and collective entities such as organisations or groups) to understand the behaviour of a system and what governs its outcomes. ABM is broadly used in the natural sciences, but it is gradually being adopted in the socioeconomic field as well. Based on statistical data for 2022, a “digital twin” of Bodø municipality was created, including 52,802 individuals; 25,560 households; 32,019 apartments, houses, industrial buildings and other real estate properties; and 1,250 organisations with 24,779 employees. Based on certain rules of behaviour, the individuals, firms and other entities in the model can “live” (i.e. interact with each other and their ...
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