Introduction

The purpose of this volume is to demonstrate the practical possibilities and the limitations of solving location problems with tools from multicriteria decision making. The reason for considering solving location problems in this way rather than resorting to the standard tools available in location analysis is based on the positioning of location problems on the strategic—tactical—operations scale. Most location problems are located (sic) high on that scale, as the facilities they locate tend to be expensive to build and to (re-) locate. This is in contrast to the related routing problems, which are typically found on the operational level. In the extreme, it is much more complex to plan, finance, and build, say, a new stadium as opposed to change a bus route. Given the high costs and the many stakeholders that are usually involved in the siting of a facility, the process typically involves multiple decision makers, each with a number of different criteria (in addition to a multitude of regulatory constraints). In contrast to the process as it pans out in reality, most location problems in the literature use a single criterion, viz., distance, i.e., a (dis-) utility for spatial separation. We should point out that the term “distance” is used here in the widest possible sense: In case of emergency vehicles, it may refer to the time that is needed to reach the site of an emergency, while in case of polluting facilities it measures the attenuation of pollution, whereas in case of commercial facilities such as warehouses or distribution centers, it is typically used as a proxy of costs.