Compatibility of municipal services based on service similarity

Abstract

The aim of this article is to propose and examine a quantitative method of determining the degree of compatibility between municipal services. Provision of services and facilities maintenance are usually two biggest expenditures of local governments. Traditionally, facilities host only one service, whereas the challenge and opportunity lies in combining various, compatible services and offering them together under one roof. Such a combination decreases municipal expenditure and has a strong positive impact on the general service quality. For this purpose, we take advantage of the City-block distance formula to calculate the degree of compatibility between municipal services. The method is examined and discussed on a sample of 30 real municipal services. This allows us to find possible combinations of strongly compatible services that should be offered together in Multi-Service Facilities and, at the same time, avoid an unwanted combination of services that are incompatible