This study aims to disentangle how actors’ geographical proximity relates to the novelty emergence process. In the literature, two distinct characterisations of proximity exist. The first sees closeness as a proxy for agents’ cognitive and cultural traits. While this approach has the merit of detailing several colourful explanations for proximity relation with novelty, it entails theoretical and methodological complexities that impede observing the sought mechanisms. On the contrary, the second characterisation has a socio-structural interest, looking at proximity in relation to network formation and change. This study leverages the second perspective to disentangle the relationship between proximity and homophily and their consequences for novelty, considering meeting —– the chances of encounters –— and mating –— the actual propensity to form a tie —– as separated events. In so doing, it maps the influence of homophily on agents’ choices of tie formation, maintenance, and dissolution as bounded in their opportunity space. Then, it characterises the process of novelty ideation and evaluation at the dyad level as emerging from the unfolding network structure. To do so, it firstly proposes a nomological network detailing mechanisms via which geographic proximity influences novelty. The mechanisms described then inform an agent-based model producing synthetic data on six prototypical societies characterised by different degrees of spatial clustering and cultural heterogeneity. The synthetic societies are firstly simulated under an unmountable network structure, including network change and cultural transmission in later steps. Overall, the comparative analysis of the simulated models aims to offer the chance to explore micro-mechanisms and proposes a nuanced understand- ing of why actors respond to proximity differently and with what consequences for novelty ideation and evaluation.
