Erez Hatna
Erez Hatna
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Clinical Associate Professor of Epidemiology
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Professional overview
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Dr. Erez Hatna works in the fields of geoinformatics, spatial analysis, agent-based modeling, and studies urban dynamics, residential segregation, scaling laws of urban systems, and infectious disease modeling.
Dr. Hatna studies ethnic and economic residential patterns of cities using agent-based computational models of relocating households. The models simulate the formation of residential patterns as an outcome of relocation decisions of households. Dr. Hatna also studies the statistical regularities of urban systems and urban scaling. His research focuses on how the choice of urban boundaries influences the scaling relationships.
At NYU, Dr. Hatna is part of the Agent-based Modeling Lab, which works with large-scale epidemic models and cognitively plausible agents in order to produce a transformative synthesis for global public health modeling. Previously, he has conducted research at Wageningen University, University College London, and Johns Hopkins University.
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Education
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PhD, Geography, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, IsraelMA, Geography, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
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Areas of research and study
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Agent-Based ModelingEpidemiologyGeographic Information Science (GIS)Geospatial MethodsInfectious DiseasesMathematical and Computational ModelingModeling Social and Behavioral DynamicsUrban Informatics
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Publications
Publications
Geosimulation of income-based Urban residential patterns
AbstractHatna, E., & Benenson, I. (n.d.). In Advanced Geo-Simulation Models (1–).Publication year
2011Page(s)
111-125AbstractMaps of high-resolution residential patterns of Israeli cities reveal essential spatial heterogeneity in relation to family income, a situation that was found in eight of the nine cities investigated. Modern urban theory provides several explanations of how homogeneous urban patterns self-organize and persist; however the mechanisms that allow the persistence of heterogeneous patterns remain unexplained. We argue that the observed residential heterogeneity can be explained on the basis of householders' residential preferences and behavior. Namely, the householders differ in respect to their willingness to reside near poorer neighbors. Residential heterogeneity is the consequence of this variability. In order to investigate this hypothesis, we developed an agent-based model of residential dynamics in the city, which extends the Schelling model of segregation. Model residential agents represent families, which differ in their economic abilities and their tolerance of poorer neighbors. Using the model, we demonstrate that quite a low fraction of tolerant agents is sufficient for the emergence and persistence of heterogeneous residential areas in the city. This result is robust to the uncertainty of our knowledge about the fraction of highly tolerant agents - the variation in this fraction only weakly influences the resulting urban heterogeneity. We thus conclude that the presence of residential agents who are tolerant of their poorer neighbors is sufficient to explain long-term urban heterogeneity and we discuss the possible consequences of this result for the theory of urban gentrification.Minority-majority relations in the schelling model of residential dynamics
AbstractBenenson, I., & Hatna, E. (n.d.).Publication year
2011Journal title
Geographical AnalysisVolume
43Issue
3Page(s)
287-305AbstractThe Schelling model describing segregation between two groups of residential agents, reflects the most abstract, basic view of noneconomic forces motivating residential migrations: be close to people of "your ownkind. The model assumes that residential agents, located in neighborhoods where the fraction of "friendsis less than a predefined threshold value F, try to relocate to neighborhoods where this fraction is F or higher. For groups of equal size, Schelling's residential pattern converges either to complete integration (random pattern) or segregation, depending on F. We investigate Schelling model pattern dynamics as a function of F in addition to two other parameters-the ratio of groups' numbers, and neighborhood size. We demonstrate that the traditional integration-segregation pattern dichotomy should be extended. In the case of groups of different sizes, a wide interval of F-values exists that entails a third persistent residential pattern, one in which a portion of the majority population segregates while the rest remains integrated with the minority. We also demonstrate that Schelling model dynamics essentially depend on the formalization of urban agents' residential behavior. To obtain realistic results, the agents should be satisficers, and the fraction of the agents relocating irrespective of the neighborhood's state should be nonzero. We discuss the relationship between our results and real-world residential dynamics. Relaciones entre minoría y mayoría en el modelo de dinámica residencial de Schelling El modelo de Schelling describe la segregación entre dos grupos de agentes residenciales (Schelling 1971, 1978) a partir del supuesto más básico y abstracto acerca de las fuerzas no económicas que motivan las migraciones residenciales: la cercanía a gente de "su mismotipo. El modelo asume que los agentes residenciales, ubicados en los barrios donde la fracción de "amigoses menor a un valor umbral predefinido F, tratarán de trasladarse a los vecindarios donde esta fracción es F o mayor. Para grupos de igual tamaño, el patrón residencial de Schelling converge ya sea hacia la integración completa (modelo aleatorio), o hacia la segregación, en función al valor de F. Los autores investigan las dinámicas del patrón modelo de Shelling en función a F y a dos parámetros adicionales: el ratio o tasa de tamaño de los grupos, y el tamaño del barrio/vecindad. Los resultados demuestran que la dicotomía tradicional de patrones de integración-segregación debe ser revisada y ampliada. En el caso de grupos de diferentes tamaños, se halló que existe un amplio intervalo de valores para F, lo cual supone un tercer tipo de patrón residencial persistente: un patrón en el que una parte (o grupo) mayoritario de la población se segrega, mientras que el resto de esta mayoría permanece integrado con la minoría. También se demuestra que las dinámicas del modelo de Schelling dependen esencialmente de la formalización del comportamiento residencial de los agentes urbanos. Para obtener resultados realistas, los agentes deben ser satisfactores (satisficers), y la fracción de los agentes que se reubican debe ser distinta a cero, independientemente de las características de 4 vecindad. Finalmente, los autores discuten la relación entre sus resultados y las dinámicas residenciales en el mundo real.The impact of anthropogenic factors on the behavior, reproduction, management and welfare of urban, free-roaming cat populations
AbstractFinkler, H., Hatna, E., & Terkel, J. (n.d.).Publication year
2011Journal title
AnthrozoosVolume
24Issue
1Page(s)
31-49AbstractFree-roaming domestic cats constitute an integral part of many urban ecosystems worldwide; their presence results from undisturbed natural reproduction, abandonment by pet owners, and abundant food resources. These cats present controversial and emotional issues regarding management of their high densities, hygiene and epidemiologic risks to humans, and predation of wildlife. Improved urban cat management requires greater knowledge of the anthropogenic factors affecting free-roaming cat populations. In this study, we explored the relationship between caretaker treatment levels and the socioeconomics of the caretakers and neighborhoods, and free-roaming cat reproduction management, behavior, and physiology in urban populations. Eight free-roaming cat feeding groups, from eight neighborhoods in Tel Aviv, Israel, were observed for six months. Neighborhoods displayed differences in socioeconomic status and housing type, and cat feeding groups reflected different levels of caretaker treatment with regard to neutering, physical interaction with the cats, and medical treatment. We examined whether agonistic behaviors, neutering rates, pregnancy rates, and cortisol levels of the cats differed between groups. We found a strong socio-economic effect on neutering and pregnancy rates: low-income neighborhoods had lower neutering and higher pregnancy rates. Higher-level caretaking was associated with lowered aggression, as well as lower cortisol levels of neutered females. Additionally, analysis of data from 622 registered cat feeding groups from north (high-income) and south (lowincome) Tel Aviv, obtained from the municipal veterinary department, revealed a socio-economic influence on reproduction management. Our results indicate that, in urban environments, both the neighborhood's socio-economic status and the caretaker treatment level affect management of these cat populations. We conclude that, to improve cat management success, municipalities should consider addressing these socio-economic differences, while, just as importantly, raising awareness and encouraging caretaker involvement in neutering efforts. Improved caretaker treatment levels can lead to reduced cat aggression, with consequent improved cat welfare and reduced noise disturbance to humans.The influence of neighbourhood socio-demographic factors on densities of free-roaming cat populations in an urban ecosystem in Israel
AbstractFinkler, H., Hatna, E., & Terkel, J. (n.d.).Publication year
2011Journal title
Wildlife ResearchVolume
38Issue
3Page(s)
235-243AbstractContext Free-roaming cat populations are abundant in many urban ecosystems worldwide. Their management is necessary for reasons of public health, risk of wildlife predation and cat welfare related to their high densities. Trapneuterreturn (TNR) programs are now the main cat population control strategy in urban areas. However, the efficacy of such strategies is difficult to evaluate without more precise estimates of cat numbers and a better knowledge of anthropogenic influences on cat densities. Aims We aimed to estimate free-roaming cat population numbers and density in residential neighbourhoods in Tel Aviv, and to investigate population densities in relation to several socio-demographic factors. Methods We compared free-roaming cat population densities in terms of neighbourhood socio-economic status (SES), housing type, human density and percentage of residential and commercial areas. Five consecutive cat density surveys were carried out in eight residential neighbourhoods in Israel four in northern Tel Aviv, characterised by high SES, and four in southern Tel Aviv, characterised by low SES. The photographic capturerecapture technique was used and abundance estimates were evaluated using the MARK program. Regression analyses examined the effect of socio-demographic factors on cat densities. Key results Neighbourhood socio-economic status significantly influenced kitten density and proportion of neutered cats in the total population: southern neighbourhoods had higher kitten densities and lower neutered cat proportions compared with northern neighbourhoods. Higher adult cat densities featured in mixed profile neighbourhoods of residential and commercial areas compared with solely residential neighbourhoods. Using the linear equation from the regression analysis the entire free-roaming cat population in Tel Aviv was extrapolated to 39000 cats. Conclusions The results suggest that adult cat and kitten densities depend in part on socio-demographic factors, specifically on neighbourhood socio-economic status and the proportion of residential area. Implications Our findings in Tel Aviv may be used to improve cat management efforts, by focusing on neighbourhoods hosting higher cat densities; as well as to improve cat welfare by focusing on neighbourhoods with lower neutering rates and higher kitten densities. Finally, the current study may serve as a basis for studies in other cities with similar cat overpopulation problems.Assessing spatial uncertainties of land allocation using the scenario approach and sensitivity analysis
Tabeau, A., Hatna, E., & Verburg, P. (n.d.). In Proceedings to the International EAAE-SYAL Seminar. Spatial Dynamics in Agrifood Systems (1–).Publication year
2010From schelling to spatially explicit modeling of urban ethnic and economic residential dynamics
AbstractBenenson, I., Hatna, E., & Or, E. (n.d.).Publication year
2009Journal title
Sociological Methods and ResearchVolume
37Issue
4Page(s)
463-497AbstractThe robustness of outcomes to the parameterization of behavioral rules is a crucial property of any model aimed at simulating complex human systems. Schelling model of residential segregation satisfies this criterion. Based on the recently available high-resolution census GIS, we apply Schelling model for investigating urban population patterns at the resolution of individual buildings and families. First, we simulate ethnic residential dynamics in Yaffo (an area of Tel Aviv), and demonstrate good quantitative correspondence for a 40-year period. Second, we investigate income-based residential patterns in nine Israeli cities, reveal their high heterogeneity, and explain the latter by the presence of low fraction of wealthier householders who are tolerant of their poorer neighbors and reside in their proximity. We extend Schelling model in this direction and demonstrate qualitative correspondence between the model's outcomes and the observed income-based residential patterns.The Third State of the Schelling Model of Residential Dynamics
AbstractBenenson, I., & Hatna, E. (n.d.).Publication year
2009Journal title
arXivAbstractThe Schelling model of segregation between two groups of residential agents (Schelling 1971; Schelling 1978) reflects the most abstract view of the non-economic forces of residential migrations: be close to people of 'your own'. The model assumes that the residential agent, located in the neighborhood where the fraction of 'friends' is less than a predefined threshold value F, tries to relocate to a neighborhood for which this fraction is above F. It is well known that for the equal groups, depending on F, Schelling's residential pattern converges either to complete integration (random pattern) or segregation. We investigate Schelling model pattern dynamics as dependent on F, the ratio of the group numbers and the size of the neighborhood and demonstrate that the traditional integrate-segregate dichotomy is incomplete. In case of unequal groups, there exists the wide interval of the F-values that entails the third persistent residential pattern, in which part of the majority population segregates, while the rest remains integrated with the minority. We also demonstrate that Schelling model dynamics essentially depends on the description of agents' residential behavior. To obtain sociologically meaningful results, the agents should be satisficers, and the fraction of the agents who relocate irrespective of the neighborhood state should be non-zero.Building a city in vitro: The experiment and the simulation model
AbstractHatna, E., & Benenson, I. (n.d.).Publication year
2007Journal title
Environment and Planning B: Planning and DesignVolume
34Issue
4Page(s)
687-707AbstractAll current urban models accept the 'first-order recursion' view, namely, that the state of an urban system at time t is sufficient for predicting its state at t + 1. This assumption is not at all evident in the case of urban development, where the behavior of developers and planners is defined by the complex interaction between long-term and short-term plan guidelines, local spatial and temporal conditions, and individual entrepreneurial activity and cognition. In this paper we validate the first-order recursion approach in an artificial game environment: thirty geography students were asked to construct a 'city' on the floor of a large room, with each student using the same set of fifty-two building mock-ups. Based on the analysis of game outcomes, the first-order recursive set of behavioral rules shared by all the participants is estimated and further employed for computer generation of artificial cities. Comparison between the human-built and model patterns reveals that the constructed set of rules is sufficient for representing the dynamics of the majority of experimental patterns; however, the behavior of some participants differs and we analyze these differences. We consider this experiment as a preliminary yet important step towards the adequate modeling of decision-making behavior among real developers and planners.Study of Urban Developers' behavior in a Game Environment
Hatna, E., & Benenson, I. (n.d.). In S. Albeverio, D. Andrey, P. Goirdano, & A. Vancheri (Eds.), The dynamics of complex urban systems (1–).Publication year
2007Page(s)
265-286Defining localities of inadequate treatment for childhood asthma: A GIS approach
AbstractPeled, R., Reuveni, H., Pliskin, J. S., Benenson, I., Hatna, E., & Tal, A. (n.d.).Publication year
2006Journal title
International Journal of Health GeographicsVolume
5AbstractBackground: The use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has great potential for the management of chronic disease and the analysis of clinical and administrative health care data. Asthma is a chronic disease associated with substantial morbidity, mortality, and health care use. Epidemiologic data from all over the world show an increasing prevalence of asthma morbidity and mortality despite the availability of effective treatment. These facts led to the emergence of strategies developed to improve the quality of asthma care. The objective: To develop an efficient tool for quality assurance and chronic disease management using a Geographic Information System (GIS). Geographic location: The southern region of Israel. January 1998 - Octo ber 2000. Databases: Administrative claims data of the largest HMO in Israel: drug dispensing registry, demographic data, Emergency Room visits, and hospitalization data bases. Methods: We created a list of six markers for inadequate pharmaceutical treatment of childhood asthma from the Israeli clinical guidelines. We used this list to search the drug dispensing registry to identify asthmatic children who received inadequate treatment and to assess their health care utilization and bad outcomes: emergency room visits and hospitalizations. Using GIS we created thematic maps on which we located the clinics with a high percentage of children for whom the treatment provided was not in adherence with the clinical guidelines. Results: 81 % of the children were found to have at least one marker for inadequate treatment; 17.5% were found to have more than one marker. Children with markers were found to have statistically significant higher rates of Emergency Room visits, hospitalizations and longer length of stay in hospital compared with children without markers. The maps show in a robust way which clinics provided treatment not in accord with the clinical guidelines. Those clinics have high rates of Emergency Room visits, hospitalizations and length of stay. Conclusion: Integration of clinical guidelines, administrative data and GIS can create an efficient interface between administrative and clinical information. This tool can be used for allocating sites for quality assurance interventions.Geo-simulation of urban dynamics
Benenson, I., Hatna, E., & Omer, I. (n.d.).Publication year
2006Journal title
Journal of the Israeli Association of PlannersVolume
3Issue
1Page(s)
121-141Agent-based modeling of householders' migration behavior and its consequences
AbstractBenenson, I., Omer, I., & Hatna, E. (n.d.).Publication year
2003Journal title
Contributions to EconomicsPage(s)
97-115AbstractThe Agent-Based approach is the most promising among the modelling techniques developed in recent decades that apply to demography and the social sciences. The current paper considers this approach with respect to householder migration and dynamics of residential distribution. It begins with a characterization of different styles of AB modelling and proceeds with examples of AB models of residential behavior, ranging from Schelling-type abstract models to real-world simulations of the population dynamics of an urban region with a population of 30,000. The latter is investigated in depth.Entity-based modeling of urban residential dynamics: The case of Yaffo, Tel Aviv
AbstractBenenson, I., Omer, I., & Hatna, E. (n.d.).Publication year
2002Journal title
Environment and Planning B: Planning and DesignVolume
29Issue
4Page(s)
491-512AbstractThe dynamics of the ethnic residential distribution in the Yaffo area of Tel Aviv, which is jointly occupied by Arab and Jewish residents, is simulated by means of an entity-based (EB) model. EB models consider householders as separate entities, whose residential behavior is defined by the properties of the surrounding infrastructure and of other householders. The power of the EB approach lies in its ability to interpret directly different forms of decisionmaker behavior in the model's terms. Several scenarios of residential interactions between members of local ethnic groups are compared on the basis of detailed georeferenced data taken from Israel's 1995 Population Census. The model simulates very closely the residential dynamics during the period 1955-95; the importance of the qualitative aspects of residential choice, as captured by the EB approach, is demonstrated by this correspondence.Modeling Human Residential Behavior
Omer, I., Hatna, E., & Benenson, I. (n.d.). In Proceedings to the first Georgian-Israeli Geographical Seminar (1–).Publication year
2000Page(s)
116-137