Taming the Gerrymander--Statistical Physics Approach to Political   Districting Problem
  The Political Districting Problem is mapped to a $q$-state Potts model in which the constraints can be written as interactions between sites or external fields acting on the system. Districting into $q$ voter districts is equivalent to finding the ground state of this $q$-state Potts model. We illustrate this by districting Taipei city in its 2008 Legislature Election. Statistical properties of the model are also studied. 
Chung-I Chou, Sai-Ping Li