APPLICATION OF FUZZY-SET CLUSTERING FOR REGIONAL TYPOLOGIES

Qualitative and quantitative procedures have been used to aggregate co mmunities and counties for regional economic analysis. However, once a ggregated, communities and counties are perceived as homogeneous entit ies; this often belies the diversity that may exist. In order to captu re the non-uniqueness of counties, fuzzy-set clustering procedures wer e employed to derive a typology of Nevada counties. Fuzzy-set clusteri ng procedures employing fuzzy-set membership values and possibility th eory derive county membership values associated for specific county cl usters. Information from fuzzy partitions yields a means for posterior evaluation of county clusters which is independent of the algorithm p roducing them. From county membership values calculated from results o f the fuzzy-set clustering analysis for Nevada, specific economic deve lopment programs for aggregate and individual counties are derived.