A Goal Programming Approach to Urban-Suburban Location Preferences

Recent efforts in the area of modelling activities in the urban environment have been concentrated on the use of simulation techniques. In this paper the problem of population location in a metropolitan area is treated in an analytic model employing a goal programming formulation. A target population is broken into groups which then compete for a share of limited capacity in a number of urban sectors. The possible usefulness of this approach to urban planning, real estate development, and transportation systems design is illustrated through the theoretical development and the presentation of a numerical model.