ABSTRACT
We intend to examine the following decision problem, which we refer to as a location problem: the choice of a set of points, convent i onal l y named plants, selected from a finite or infinite number of candidate points, with the aim of minimizing one (or more) objective function(s) in relation to the costs associated with the spatial distribution of the selected points and the distance of these from another set of points conventionally named customers. The definition is intentionally restrictive. We will examine t he problem from a quantitative point of view, using mathematical models of optimization. We shall be looking mainly at the location of single-sector facilities, both private (such as the location of industrial plants) and public (the location of public services and facilities).
