Intl. Trans. in Op. Res. 26 (2019) 1157–1187 DOI: 10.1111/itor.12573 INTERNATIONAL TRANSACTIONS IN OPERATIONAL RESEARCH A robust DEA-centric location-based decision support system for expanding Recreov´ ıa hubs in the city of Bogot´ a (Colombia) Sepideh Abolghasem a , Felipe Solano a , Claudia D. Bedoya a,b , LinaP. Navas a , Ana Paola R´ ıos c,e , Edwin A. Pinz ´ on d , Andr´ es L. Medaglia a and Olga L. Sarmiento c a Department of Industrial Engineering, Universidad de los Andes, Bogot´ a, Colombia b Department of Systems and Computation Engineering, Universidad de los Andes, Bogot´ a, Colombia c School of Medicine, Department of Public Health, Universidad de los Andes, Bogot´ a, Colombia d District Institute of Sports and Recreation of Bogot´ a, Bogot´ a, Colombia e School of Cardiorespiratory Therapy, Universidad Manuela Beltr´ an, Bogot´ a, Colombia E-mail: ag.sepideh10@uniandes.edu.co [Abolghasem]; f.solano1171@uniandes.edu.co [Solano]; cd.bedoya212@uniandes.edu.co [Bedoya]; lp.navas1582@uniandes.edu.co [Navas]; a-rios@uniandes.edu.co [R´ ıos]; edwin.pinzon@idrd.gov.co [Pinz´ on]; amedagli@uniandes.edu.co [Medaglia]; osarmien@uniandes.edu.co [Sarmiento] Received 17 December 2016; received in revised form 14 June 2018; accepted 18 June 2018 Abstract Multisectorial community programs to promote healthy living in public spaces are crucial for building a “cul- ture of health” and could contribute to achieving the specific 2030 agendas of sustainable development goals, including reduction of inequalities; provision of inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable cities; and promotion of just, peaceful, and inclusive societies. In this context, the Recreov´ ıa program of Bogot´ a (Colombia) provides physical activity classes in parks mainly for vulnerable communities. We address the challenge of efficiently locating new Recreov´ ıa hubs through a novel robust data envelopment analysis (DEA) centric location-based decision support system (DSS) that helps the District Institute of Sports and Recreation of Bogot´ a (IDRD) to locate the best hubs to expand the Recreov´ ıa program throughout thecity. The tool is applied to analyze different scenarios including one that was implemented in Bogot´ a and yielded an improvement of 28% in compound monthly growth rate of the average attendance to the hubs. Keywords: location problems; data envelopment analysis (DEA); robust optimization; community programs; physical activity; decision support systems 1. Introduction Public spaces are settings with great potential for promoting healthy living. Therefore, multisectorial community programs are crucial for building a “culture of health” and could contribute to achieving the specific 2030 agendas of sustainable development goals (SDG), including reducing inequalities; C  2018 The Authors. International Transactions in Operational Research C  2018 International Federation of Operational Research Societies Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main St, Malden, MA02148, USA.