Optimisation of land purchasing and management using mixed integer programming: a case study in a Portuguese municipal authority

In this paper a general framework is discussed within which a municipal authority can assess future needs for certain public services within its area and can develop a programme for land purchase within a fixed budget. Concentration is on developing an optimising model, using mixed integer programming techniques, to identify available plots of land and to earmark them for specific land uses. A range of constraints is discussed, and a set of subsidies and penalties arising out of a solution method due to Balas, explained with reference to the local municipality of Coimbra in central Portugal, is presented.