[en] Due to the increasing complexity of cities, it is necessary more than ever to have tools that help us understand its urban processes, anticipate unwanted futures and foresee the effects of urban politics in cities before they are applied. Even more, such tools must be designed according to the necessities of each place in which they are going to be applied. In 2002 a project called Urban Growth Simulator (UGS) was initiated developed by the Applied Geography Laboratory of the Department of Geography of Kent State University that allowed to make simulations for Northeast Ohio as a mean of support to planning and evaluation of land use policies, characterized for its simplicity of use as for its flexibility for the input of a variety of data to be taken into account in the simulation, outputting a map and quantitative data for the evaluation of different scenarios of growth, providing critical information for decision taking about land use policies. Due to the increasing complexity of cities, it is necessary more than ever to have tools that help us understand its urban processes, anticipate unwanted futures and foresee the effects of urban politics in cities before they are applied. Even more, such tools must be designed according to the necessities of each place in which they are going to be applied. In 2002 a project called Urban Growth Simulator (UGS) was initiated developed by the Applied Geography Laboratory of the Department of Geography of Kent State University that allowed to make simulations for Northeast Ohio as a mean of support to planning and evaluation of land use policies, characterized for its simplicity of use as for its flexibility for the input of a variety of data to be taken into account in the simulation, outputting a map and quantitative data for the evaluation of different scenarios of growth, providing critical information for decision taking about land use policies.With the objective of using it for its planning exercises the Municipal Institute of Research and Planning of Ensenada requested the source code of the UGS to Ken State University in order to reprogram its operation for adapting it to the cities own necessities. This process is described in this work, in which the origin and experiences of the UGS in the USA is mentioned, its original functionality is characterized and the purposes of its adaptation are mentioned as well as modifications are explained. Last, an example of the software is shown as applied to the agricultural valley of Maneadero in the city of Ensenada, in which results are shown of what could happen by applying various urban development policies. It concludes with future adaptations that are planned to be done to the UGS.

[es] Debido a la creciente complejidad de las ciudades actuales, cada vez es más necesario contar con herramientas que ayuden a entender sus procesos urbanos, anticipar futuros no deseados y prever los efectos de políticas urbanas sobre las ciudades antes de aplicarse. Más aún, dichas herramientas deben de diseñarse de acuerdo a las necesidades de cada una de los lugares en donde se aplican. En el año 2002 se puso en marcha un proyecto denominado Urban Growth Simulator (Simulador de Crecimiento Urbano o UGS) desarrollado por el Laboratorio de Geografía Aplicada del Departamento de Geografía de la Universidad de Kent State que permitía realizar simulaciones para el Noreste de Ohio como apoyo a la planeación y evaluación de políticas de usos de suelo, caracterizándose por su sencillez de uso como por la flexibilidad de ingresar una variedad de información a tomar en cuenta en la simulación, arrojando como resultado un mapa y datos cuantitativos para evaluar diferentes escenarios de crecimiento y proveer información crítica al momento de tomar decisiones sobre políticas de uso de suelo. Con el objetivo de utilizarlo para sus procesos de planeación el Instituto Municipal de Investigación y Planeación de Ensenada solicitó a la Universidad de Kent State el código fuente del UGS para volver a programar su funcionamiento con el fin de adecuarlo a las necesidades propias de la ciudad. Este proceso se describe en el presente trabajo, donde se menciona el origen y experiencias del UGS en los EUA, se caracterizan sus prestaciones originales para posteriormente explicar los motivos de su adecuación así como las características de las mismas. Para terminar se muestra un ejemplo de ejecución del programa aplicado al valle agrícola de Maneadero en la ciudad de Ensenada, donde se muestran los resultados de lo que podría suceder al aplicar varias políticas de desarrollo urbano. Concluye con futuras adecuaciones que se planean realizar.