  Given a rectangle $R$ with area $A$ and a set of areas $L=\{A_1,...,A_n\}$
with $\sum_{i=1}^n A_i = A$, we consider the problem of partitioning $R$ into
$n$ sub-regions $R_1,...,R_n$ with areas $A_1,...,A_n$ in a way that the total
perimeter of all sub-regions is minimized. The goal is to create square-like
sub-regions, which are often more desired. We propose an efficient
$1.203$--approximation algorithm for this problem based on a divide and conquer
scheme that runs in $\mathcal{O}(n^2)$ time. For the special case when the
aspect ratios of all rectangles are bounded from above by 3, the approximation
factor is $2/\sqrt{3} \leq 1.1548$. We also present a modified version of out
algorithm as a heuristic that achieves better average and best run times.
