Social Impact Assessment
Year:2020 | Volume:1 | Issue:1 |Papers Count:8

Through differentiation between urban plans and projects, this paper emphasizes that urban plans are less exposed to evaluation because of the lack of defined performance evaluation models and the difficulty of evaluating the performance of urban plans compared to urban projects. However, many of these plans are in dire need of rigorous study and evaluation. Accordingly, we have tried to provide a theoretical-methodical model for evaluating and improving the performance of urban plans, based on existing theoretical approaches and also results of research in this area. Our proposed model evaluates the performance of urban plans by measuring three main variables, i. e. effectiveness, justification and sustainability of results, each of which follows a different measurement and evaluation process. This model explores the origins and causes of success or failure of a plan in three areas, namely policy making, implementation, and participation, and the resulted management system is based on two key mechanisms: structure and approach. This model presents a six-step process in the field of research that methodically enables the researchers to estimate the performance of the urban plans; and by identifying the successes / failures causes, it can provide objective and practical suggestions for improving the performance of these plans. Hopefully the proposed model in this paper will provide the researchers with at least an initial guideline for evaluating and improving the performance of urban plans.

This study was aimed to analyze the social and economic impacts of the construction of multi-storey parking in Shahid Bagheri Square, South Yaftabad District, Tehran. The methodology of this study was qualitative and the data were collected through observation and interviewtechniqueswitha focusonthe interpretationsofthe participants. The data collection process continued until it reached a theoretical saturation. In this process, 47 technical experts, officials, key informants and local residents were interviewed both in person and within a discussions group. The Findings revealed that not only the effectiveness of this construction project but also the manageability of its impacts depend on consideration of socio-economic status of Yaftabad neighborhood residents. Therefore, suggestions derived from present study are as follow: Renting parking lots based on the common price in the South Yaftabad neighborhood with a fair pricing mechanism; Strengthening intra-and inter-organizational coordination by emphasizing on social participation; Incorporating construction of a neighborhood hall-Saraye Mahalle-into this project for addressing the social and cultural needs of the residents; Utilizing the parking building as a local cultural heritage bulletin; Preventing spaces from getting unprotected and indefensible by including green spaces or playgrounds in building plan; reinforcing social interactions and local identity by turning some parts of the parking to a local hangout as a hub of local and social communication.

One of the biggest problems facing cities, especially large ones is inadequate share and distribution of sports facilities due to the size of urban population and insufficient government budget. Construction of Narmak Sports Complex is one of the projects that have been implemented with the aim of developing sports and leisure area aligned with the Comprehensive Master-plan for Tehran City and the Detailed Plan of Region 8. It also aimed to transform a polluted site into a service area. The present study seeks to identify the social and cultural impacts of this project and to estimate the positive and negative outcomes within the project-affected area. This research took a mixed approach combining documentary and field methods, and tools such as observation, in-depth and semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, and focused group discussions were used to collect data. The findings of this study show that besides positive impacts such as increasing sports space per capita, eliminating environmental pollution, improving the urban landscape, reducing household costs, reducing perceived public insecurity, enriching leisure activity patterns, etc., this project also has negative impacts such as reducing market share of pre-existing sports complexes, causing traffic problems due to lack of parking space and increasing traffic jams in the area.

An increasing focus on integrative approaches is one of the current trends in impact assessment. There is potential to combine impact assessment with various other forms of assessment, such as risk assessment, to make impact assessment and the management of social risks more effective. We identify the common features of social impact assessment (SIA) and social risk assessment (SRA), and discuss the merits of a combined approach. A hybrid model combining SIA and SRA to form a new approach called, ‘ risk and social impact assessment’ (RSIA) is introduced. RSIA expands the capacity of SIA to evaluate and manage the social impacts of risky projects such as nuclear energy as well as natural hazards and disasters such as droughts and floods. We outline the three stages of RSIA, namely: impact identification, impact assessment, and impact management.

Few jurisdictions have translated internationally agreed social impact assessment (SIA) principles into statutory provisions. Governments and regulatory bodies tend to provide developers with high-level frameworks, or require that social impacts be ‘ considered’ , without specifying how this is to be done. In Australia, this lack of clarity leaves all parties uncertain about requirements for SIA. The New South Wales (NSW) Government’ s 2017 release of the SIA guideline for State-significant mining, petroleum and extractive industry development represents an attempt to clarify requirements and provide guidance. In this paper, we describe the process of bringing this guideline to fruition from the perspective of being directly involved in its development, and highlight the challenges involved in integrating leading-practice principles into the state’ s pre-existing policy framework. While the guideline represents a significant advance in policy-based SIA guidance, some aspects leave room for improvement. The real test of the guideline’ s impact will lie in its influence on SIA practice in NSW, and ultimately in social outcomes for communities affected by resources projects.