Evaluating the substantive effectiveness of SEA: Towards a better understanding |
| |
| Affiliation: | 1. Institute of Biological and Health Sciences, Federal University of Alagoas, Maceió, Brazil;2. Instituto de Geografia, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil;3. School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK;4. Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas (IPÊ), Nazaré Paulista, Brazil;1. Appraisal Center for Environment and Engineering, MEP, China;2. Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences, China;3. Tianjin Environmental Monitoring Center, China;4. School of the Built Environment, Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom;5. Research center for Strategic Environmental Assessment, Nankai University, China;1. School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom;2. School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom;3. Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment, Lincoln, United Kingdom;4. Research Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, North-West University, South Africa;1. Dipartimento di Agraria, University of Sassari, Viale Italia, 39, 07100 Sassari, Italy;2. LaSalle Investment Management, One Curzon Street London, UK |
| |
| Abstract: | Evaluating the substantive effectiveness of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) is vital in order to know to what extent the tool fulfills its purposes and produces expected results. However, the studies that have evaluated the substantive effectiveness of SEA produce varying outcomes as regards the tool's contribution to decision-making and have used a variety of approaches to appraise its effectiveness. The aim of this article is to discuss the theoretical concept of SEA substantive effectiveness and to present a new approach that can be applied for evaluation studies. The SEA effectiveness evaluation framework that will be presented is composed of concepts of, and approaches to, SEA effectiveness derived from SEA literature and planning theory. Lessons for evaluation can be learned from planning theory in particular, given its long history of analyzing and understanding how sources of information and decisions affect (subsequent) decision-making. Key concepts of this new approach are ‘conformance’ and ‘performance’. In addition, this article presents a systematic overview of process and context factors that can explain SEA effectiveness, derived from SEA literature. To illustrate the practical value of our framework for the assessment and understanding of substantive effectiveness of SEA, three Dutch SEA case studies are examined. The case studies have confirmed the usefulness of the SEA effectiveness assessment framework. The framework proved helpful in order to describe the cumulative influence of the three SEAs on decision-making and the ultimate plan. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
