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Multiobjective Programming and Planning (Dover Books on Computer Science)

This book introduces the theory and application of multiobjective programming as a superior alternative to single-objective optimization for solving complex public sector planning problems with multiple, conflicting goals.

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What it’s about

Real-world public decisions—from building a dam to locating a fire station—are never about a single objective. Traditional methods like cost-benefit analysis force you to make controversial value judgments, like putting a price on a human life or a pristine river, and then present a single, so-called "optimal" solution. "Multiobjective Programming and Planning" offers a more realistic and powerful approach. This book provides a comprehensive toolkit of mathematical programming techniques designed to handle conflicting objectives—like economic efficiency, social equity, and environmental quality—without artificially combining them. You will learn how to systematically generate a range of noninferior (or Pareto-optimal) solutions, explicitly revealing the tradeoffs between goals. This empowers decision-makers by clarifying the full range of possibilities and the consequences of their choices, restoring the proper roles of the analyst and the decision-maker. Illustrated with detailed, real-world case studies in water resources and facility location, this book is an essential guide for any planner, analyst, or public administrator who wants to make more informed, transparent, and defensible decisions.

The through-line

Who it’s for
A planner, analyst, engineer, or public administrator struggling to solve complex public sector problems. They want to make rational, defensible, and effective decisions but find that traditional tools like cost-benefit analysis are too simplistic and often lead to political gridlock and suboptimal outcomes.
The problem
The reader is faced with planning problems that have multiple, conflicting objectives (e.g., economic efficiency vs. environmental quality vs. social equity) and traditional single-objective methods force them to either ignore important impacts or make controversial value judgments they are not equipped to defend. They feel frustrated and ineffective, caught between the technical demands of analysis and the political reality of decision-making. They feel their analytical work is often ignored or seen as irrelevant because it fails to capture the true complexity of the problem and doesn't give decision-makers a real choice.
The plan
  1. Understand the limitations of single-objective thinking and the value of a multiobjective approach.
  2. Learn how to identify, quantify, and formulate multiobjective problems using the language of mathematical programming.
  3. Master a portfolio of techniques (generating, preference-based, multi-decision-maker) to analyze the set of noninferior solutions and their tradeoffs.
  4. Apply these methods to real-world case studies in water resources and facility location to see them in action.
The payoff
The reader becomes a more effective and influential analyst, producing analyses that are seen as more realistic, transparent, and useful. · Decision-makers have a clearer understanding of their choices and the associated tradeoffs, leading to better, more robust, and politically defensible public decisions. · The reader is empowered to bridge the gap between technical analysis and policy-making, restoring the proper roles and fostering a more collaborative planning process.

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