District-neighborhood covering problems : model development and multiobjective solution techniques

This thesis developes several neighborhood impact location models. The obnoxious characteristics associated with public facilities are discussed, and three basic elements concerned with the minimization of neighborhood impact are introduced and a number of formulations are developed within a general multiobjective frame work.

The set of noninferior solutions to multiobjective location models are subdivided into two sets: 1) the set of strong noninferior s solutions and 2) the set of weak noninferior solutions. Three routines are suggested to identify noninferior solutions. The first one is a target routine which will identify a predetermined number of solutions as close to the trade-off curve as possible, using points on the trade-off curve as targets. The second one is a modified constraint routine which will generate the set of weak noninferior solutions automatically using the set of strong solution as starting solutions. The third one is a unified noninferior set estimation routine which can be used to generate the complete set of noninferior solutions.

Two data sets which are frequently referred to in literature are used in this thesis. It is found that the routines developed in this thesis generate compatible results efficiently. Furthermore, the problem formulations dealing with neighborhood impact are shown to identify interesting solutions as compared to those locations models not containing neighborhood impact criteria.