10.2190/9RJH-REFW-ABPE-4TPG 9RJHREFWABPE4TPG 4 Allocation of Resources for Neighborhood Improvement 269 281 20020509 20020509 20020509 20020509 9RJHREFWABPE4TPG.pdf http://baywood.metapress.com/link.asp?target=contribution&id=9RJHREFWABPE4TPG 3 Richard I. Pollack Dept. of Operations Research and Systems Analysis, Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn <p>City planners have long made decisions on urban improvement projects primarily on an intuitive basis. A model is presented which serves to provide a structural framework within which these decisions can be made, and their effects on the quality of life in the urban area are examined.</p><p>Standards by which to measure the improvement in the quality of life in a neighborhood are developed. Indices are selected to represent such improvements arithmetically. Alternative urban improvement projects are examined for their costs and effects on the standards set for quality of life in the neighborhood. Mathematical programming techniques are used to allocate funds to these projects such that the improvement in the quality of life is maximized within a given budget.</p><p>An illustrative example of this model is formed for a fixed planning horizon. Extension of the model to apply to a variable planning horizon is discussed.</p> Ackoff and Sasieni, <i>Fundamentals of Operations Reserarch</i>, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, 1968. Alberts and Clelland, Individual and Societal Utility, <i>Journal of Environmental Systems</i>, 19-32 (March 1971). Darwin G. Stuart, Urban Improvement Programming Models, <i>Socio-Economic Planning Science</i>, 217-238 (June 1970). P. Fishburn, <i>Decision and Value Theory</i>, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, 1964. Improving the Quality of Urban Life: A Program Guide to Model Neighborhoods in Demonstration Cities, GPO, Washington, 1966. Morris Hill, A Goals-Achievement Matrix for Evaluating Alternative Plans, <i>Journal of the American Institute of Planners XXXIV</i>, 19-29 (January 1968). "Urban Research and Development Technological Considerations," National Academy of Sciences (1967).