A Unifying Framework for Public Facility Location Problems—Part 1: A Critical Overview and Some Unsolved Problems

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Abstract
This paper, a condensed report of the present state of the work in the Public Facility Location Task (formerly the Normative Location Modeling Task) at IIASA, has three main aims: first, to build a general framework for location problems; second, to use this framework to unify existing location models; and, third, to use the framework to develop new, more general, and more meaningful location models. Suggestions are also given on how to introduce multiple services and multiple time periods in location problems. The multiactivity dynamic location models that this perspective generates is the subject of future research in the Public Facility Location Task. This first part of the paper gives a nontechnical description of the proposed general framework for analyzing location problems. The second part will describe mathematical models for static, single-service, facility location problems and their possible extensions and improvements, and will appear in the next issue.