1. When Topologists Are Politicians ….
- Author
-
Bliznashki, Nikifor C., Pollack, Aaron, and Posner, Russell
- Subjects
ZONING ,ADMINISTRATIVE & political divisions ,SIMULATION methods & models ,MODELS & modelmaking ,COMPUTER software ,ALGORITHMS ,URBAN planning ,OPERATIONS research - Abstract
The article presents a study that developed a districting model that maximizes accessibility of all people to regional representation. In dividing the states, the algorithm used districts' characteristics such as contiguousness, compactness and shared interests among their citizens. An objective function F that measures the quality of a distribution was defined and an equation for maximizing compactness was formulated. After implementing the algorithm in a computer program, the process was simulated for New York and for Ohio. The author declares that the developed model is fast and flexible, and could handle large quantities of data. Moreover, it optimizes state districts for any of a number of variables.
- Published
- 2007