Operations research and environmental planning

This paper aims at specifying the contribution of OR to environmental planning. To this purpose a framework for classifying relevant literature is proposed, according to which the literature has been reviewed and discussed with respect to both thematic and methodological aspects. It is shown that during the last few years, OR has extended its scope to include notably environmental applications. Several OR methods and tools are employed either to identify the type and intensity of environmental problems, or to assist environmental planners to effectively cope with these problems. It is illustrated that OR's relationship with environmental planning is dynamic and interactive in the sense that from the complexity of the issues examined stems the need to develop and/or adapt specific methodological tools and thus contribute to the development of both scientific fields.