Track: Undergraduate Student Paper Competition

Abstract

Japan is facing a rapid and continuing decrease in the number of younger people as the outcomes of population decrease, low birthrate, and population aging. Even in the vicinities of Metropolitan districts, municipalities must begin or have started planning core school restructures including school consolidation and closure. Not only the decrease in the number of students, but also the teacher shortage must be taken into account. To find an objective plan, mathematical methods known as facility layout optimization can be utilized. The maximum covering problem (MCLP) is adopted to seek optimal layout plans, amongst a number of candidates. Because the traditional model does not reflect capacities of facilities, the traditional model is modified to incorporate capacities of facilities. A case study is conducted for Machida City, located southernmost of Tokyo. The city plans to reduce the number of public elementary schools from 42 to 26 by the year of 2040, considering the declining birthrate and aging school buildings. Comparisons are made on the traditional and capacitated models. The results highlight that even if the number of schools is reduced to 26 from the current number 42, the population coverage decreases only 1% with the help of the MCLP-based approach.Japan is facing a rapid and continuing decrease in the number of younger people as the outcomes of population decrease, low birthrate, and population aging. Even in the vicinities of Metropolitan districts, municipalities must begin or have started planning core school restructures including school consolidation and closure. Not only the decrease in the number of students, but also the teacher shortage must be taken into account. To find an objective plan, mathematical methods known as facility layout optimization can be utilized. The maximum covering problem (MCLP) is adopted to seek optimal layout plans, amongst a number of candidates. Because the traditional model does not reflect capacities of facilities, the traditional model is modified to incorporate capacities of facilities. A case study is conducted for Machida City, located southernmost of Tokyo. The city plans to reduce the number of public elementary schools from 42 to 26 by the year of 2040, considering the declining birthrate and aging school buildings. Comparisons are made on the traditional and capacitated models. The results highlight that even if the number of schools is reduced to 26 from the current number 42, the population coverage decreases only 1% with the help of the MCLP-based approach.