# Formulation of branched transport as geometry optimization

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2109.07820 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.07820/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 16 Sep 2021.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [A variational method for curve extraction with curvature-dependent energies](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.01494/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The branched transport problem, a popular recent variant of optimal transport, is a non-convex and non-smooth variational problem on Radon measures. The so-called urban planning problem, on the contrary, is a shape optimization problem that seeks the optimal geometry of a street or pipe network. We show that the branched transport problem with concave cost function is equivalent to a generalized version of the urban planning problem. Apart from unifying these two different models used in the literature, another advantage of the urban planning formulation for branched transport is that it provides a more transparent interpretation of the overall cost by separation into a transport (Wasserstein-1-distance) and a network maintenance term, and it splits the problem into the actual transportation task and a geometry optimization.