Agent-Based Approach on Water Resources Management: A Modified Systematic Review

Abstract

Water resources management is one of the essential subjects of water research. As a conjunctive term, water resources management denotes all applications of planning, development, distribution, and management of water resources sustainably. Its social, economic, and ecological dimensions make water management a highly complex domain related to many intertwined human-nature systems. Therefore, the decision and implementation of sustainable policies require following the evidence-based approach. Agent-Based Modelling and Simulation (ABM) is one of the latest computer-aided modeling and simulation applications widely used to understand the phenomena associated with water-related/human-oriented engineering systems. In this study, conducting a modified systematic review approach, a field-specific review of the 128 articles on water resources management with ABM methodology was presented. Application areas of ABM in water resources management and examples of its use as a decision support tool were evaluated. As an integrative systematic review of Web of Science, Science Direct, and Google Scholar, this study summarizes the leading work of ABM applications on water resources management. Current trends show that water research professionals have often used ABM as a social simulation tool. Due to its role in facilitating interdisciplinary research, its application area is widening. However, there is a need for a comprehensible and open share of application-oriented information to guide the scientific community.