A numerical-analysis-based optimization method for location selection for planning residential areas in grid transportation networks

Abstract

China’s economy has been rapidly growing over the past few decades; however, increasingly more modern cities are facing problems caused by poor city planning, such as traffic networks, resource distribution and routine management. Optimization methods are urgently needed during city development. From location planning perspective, the residential area issue is discussed in this paper. Based on this issue, a numerical-analysis-based method is proposed for selecting proper residential areas in grid transportation networks. First, a grid layout is introduced to formalize a real traffic network. Furthermore, to guarantee its approximation, a considerable amount of data are obtained from real-world scenarios based on the shortest routes to demonstrate the problem of traffic jams. Then, a quantitative evaluation system is proposed, which quantitatively evaluates the specified location with the traffic flow distribution index, traffic congestion index and infrastructure convenience index. Each index reflects the attitude of citizens from a unique perspective, which affects the final location planning and selection. Finally, an analytic hierarchy process is designed to analyse all these indices together for a comprehensive analysis, and case studies and experiments are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. The generated residential location can be considered as a technical reference for further city planning and development decisions.