Location-allocation models as decision aids in delineating administrative regions

Abstract

This paper presents a model that can be used as a tool in a spatial decision support system to help decision-makers analyze administrative regionalization problems in which efficiency in the provision of services and uniformity of regions are the main decision criteria. Efficiency is measured by savings in transportation costs, and regional uniformity is determined by applying multivariate statistical techniques to the physical, social, and economic characteristics of a study area. The problem is formulated as an extended version of the p-median model. Noncontiguous regions, which arise when an ordinary location-allocation algorithm is used to solve this problem, are avoided by modifying the algorithm to restrict the allocation of spatial units to regional centers only if regional contiguity is preserved. Using these criteria, administrative regions are delineated in a case study for Greece. A sensitivity analysis is performed to examine how the values of each objective and the spatial configuration of regions change as the parameters of the model take different values.