Article ID: | iaor2005965 |
Country: | United Kingdom |
Volume: | 55 |
Issue: | 8 |
Start Page Number: | 836 |
End Page Number: | 849 |
Publication Date: | Aug 2004 |
Journal: | Journal of the Operational Research Society |
Authors: | Weintraub A., Caro F., Guignard M., Shirabe T. |
Keywords: | programming: integer |
The paper deals with a school redistricting problem in which blocks of a city must be assigned to schools according to diverse criteria. Previous approaches are reviewed and some desired properties of a good school districting plan are established. An optimization model together with a geographic information system environment are then proposed for finding a solution that satisfies these properties. A prototype of the system is described, some implementation issues are discussed, and two real-life examples from the city of Philadelphia are studied, one corresponding to a relatively easy to solve problem, and the other to a much harder one. The trade-offs in the solutions are analysed and feasibility questions are discussed. The results of the study strongly suggest that ill-defined spatial problems, such as school redistricting, can be addressed effectively by an interaction between objective and subjective judgement.