Location of Municipal Centers for New Counties within the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality

In this case study, a methodology to determine the locations of municipal centers for eight newly established counties within the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality is presented. Both discrete and planar location models to solve this multicriteria problem is employed. A municipal center is the main facility in a county that offers residents a variety of municipal services, including issuance of licenses and permits, tax collection, and welfare services. Because many of these services require the individuals to make additional trips to other government agencies, the traffic generated between the municipal center and other government agencies should be taken into account when the municipal center is located. An approach to quantify this additional traffic and locate the center accordingly is proposed. An approach is also demonstrated by implementing it in one of the newly established counties in Istanbul, namely Atasehir. The municipality administration has approved the methodology for determining the locations of all newly established counties and other government buildings in Istanbul. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)UP.1943-5444.0000092. (C) 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.