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The facility location problem seeks to minimize the total cost of opening facilities and the total distance traveled by the population to open facilities. To address disparities in the distance traveled by different demographic groups, the literature as of 1994 had proposed at least 24 different approaches that incorporate an “equity” term into the objective to balance outcomes across two groups. However, there remains a lack of consensus among both researchers and policymakers regarding effective methodologies to ensure equity in facility location problems. Prompted by the recent disclosure concerning the prospective closure of a major emergency room facility in Berkeley, California, we focus on the strategic placement of emergency rooms within Alameda and Contra Costa counties in California to ensure equitable total distances traveled by various demographic groups. We consider multiple demographic groups to encompass diverse backgrounds and needs. We examine the inherent trade-offs associated with various equity metrics. We propose a solution-centric approach to facility placement. We demonstrate that a small set of approximately optimal solutions can exist for each combination of equity metrics and demographic groups. These solutions augment the decision-making process and bypass the need for selecting the “right” notion of fairness.

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Too Many Fairness Metrics: Is There a Solution? Equity Across Demographic Groups for the Facility Location Problem

  • 章节

  • 发表日期：

    2026年

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  • Swati Gupta,
  • Akhil Jalan,
  • Gireeja Ranade,
  • Helen Yang,
  • Simon Zhuang

摘要

The facility location problem seeks to minimize the total cost of opening facilities and the total distance traveled by the population to open facilities. To address disparities in the distance traveled by different demographic groups, the literature as of 1994 had proposed at least 24 different approaches that incorporate an “equity” term into the objective to balance outcomes across two groups. However, there remains a lack of consensus among both researchers and policymakers regarding effective methodologies to ensure equity in facility location problems. Prompted by the recent disclosure concerning the prospective closure of a major emergency room facility in Berkeley, California, we focus on the strategic placement of emergency rooms within Alameda and Contra Costa counties in California to ensure equitable total distances traveled by various demographic groups. We consider multiple demographic groups to encompass diverse backgrounds and needs. We examine the inherent trade-offs associated with various equity metrics. We propose a solution-centric approach to facility placement. We demonstrate that a small set of approximately optimal solutions can exist for each combination of equity metrics and demographic groups. These solutions augment the decision-making process and bypass the need for selecting the “right” notion of fairness.