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A Robust Heuristic Approach for Regionalization Problems

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Book cover GeoComputational Analysis and Modeling of Regional Systems

Part of the book series: Advances in Geographic Information Science ((AGIS))

Abstract

Spatial optimization is commonly used for political (or electoral) districting problems. Although an exact approach can be used, heuristic methods have often been used due to the complexity of political districting problems and their multi-criteria nature. However, heuristic approaches may not produce consistent results and may vary in solution quality. This paper focuses on the development of a robust heuristic method for political districting problems, specifically incorporating existing physical barriers in combination with population, contiguity, and compactness of the resulting districts. An application for legislative election districts in Seoul, South Korea shows that the proposed method produces prominent and robust results compared to generic meta-heuristic approaches.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography Education, Kyungpook National University, 80 Daehak-ro, Buk-gu, Daegu, 702-701, South Korea

    Kamyoung Kim

  2. School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, 800 West Campbell Road, Mail Station GR31, Richardson, TX, 75080-3021, USA

    Yongwan Chun

  3. Department of Geography, University of Tennessee at Knoxville, 311 Burchfiel Geography Building, 1000 Phillip Fulmer Way, Knoxville, TN, 37996-0925, USA

    Hyun Kim

Authors
  1. Kamyoung Kim
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  2. Yongwan Chun
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  3. Hyun Kim
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kamyoung Kim .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

    Jean-Claude Thill

  2. Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

    Suzana Dragicevic

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Kim, K., Chun, Y., Kim, H. (2018). A Robust Heuristic Approach for Regionalization Problems. In: Thill, JC., Dragicevic, S. (eds) GeoComputational Analysis and Modeling of Regional Systems. Advances in Geographic Information Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59511-5_16

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