A paradigm for location and multidimensional problems in planning

Several theories, concepts, methods, or alternatively, “paradigms” have been suggested for the explanation and prediction of the location behavior of urban households. Increasingly, hwoever, “behavioral” approaches to the explanation of the dimensions of “choice” and/or exploration of alternative hypotheses have been cumbersome in the “mechanistic” paradigms of the social system and its related subsystems.An alternative paradigm of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is proposed to explore alternative structural specification hypotheses (sequential versus simultaneous) on the grouping and changing relative importance of “instrumental” and “non-instrumental” factors affecting location decision-making. AHP estimates of the “locational shares” of an urban (corridor) zonal population provide a paradigmatic basis for behavioral, vis-a-vis environmental, explanation of location decision-processes in a methodologically efficient, robust and theoretically inclusive framework of hierarchy systems.This paradigm is proposed for locational analysis requiring an effective integration of multilevel, environmental (contextual) and behavioral measures of relative importance, with limited data, and, for multidimensional problems in planning and policy-making, formidably requiring the integration of positive with normative analysis of systems.