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Social impact assessment of regional plans: a review of methods and issues and a recommended process

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Abstract

Social impact assessment (SIA) is defined and related to other policy analysis techniques. Conceptual problems in conducting SIA are reviewed. Various SIA methods are identified and evaluated for their probable effectiveness in assessing regional plans. Regional planning conditions are identified and constraints to, and demands on, SIA are examined. A strategy for SIA is proposed which uses public inputs during cyclical planning iterations for efficiently identifying and assessing the most important social impacts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of California, Davis

    James C. Cramer & Thomas Dietz

  2. Division of Environmental Studies, University of California, Davis

    Robert A. Johnston

Authors
  1. James C. Cramer
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  2. Thomas Dietz
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  3. Robert A. Johnston
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Additional information

This article is primarily based on earlier work funded by the Kellogg Grant to the University of California at Davis (Kellogg-SRAPC Project). An earlier version of this paper was published by the Sacramento Regional Area Planning Commission (Sacramento, CA) in 1977.

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Cramer, J.C., Dietz, T. & Johnston, R.A. Social impact assessment of regional plans: a review of methods and issues and a recommended process. Policy Sci 12, 61–82 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00137363

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