Sara Bjørn Aaen

Social Impact Assessment in Europe: A Study of Social Impacts in Three Danish Cases

Social impact assessment (SIA) is applied worldwide to assess social impacts of plans and projects. In Europe, directives on environmental assessment (EA) require attention to social impacts, however, there is a need to investigate the implementation in practise. To this end, we study three Danish cases, which are characterised by debates and conflicts on social issues. Analysis of the EA statements shows inclusion of a broad range of social impacts. However, the EAs do not fully match the concerns of the public, and social impacts are not always analysed in depth, mitigation measures are not suggested or are postponed and the geographical distribution of impacts assessed is biased towards including negative local impacts. We discuss the scope and handling of social impacts, and possible implications. Based on this, we conclude with the view that EA might do the job of handling social impacts in Europe, if practise is improved.

What Determines the Substantive Influence of Public Participation? An Investigation of Planners’ Views on Conditions for Participatory Practices in Denmark

Abstract Conditions that enable successful public participation have received increased attention in research and practice. This paper contributes with an empirical study of the conditions that determine the substantive influence of public participation processes. We explore a list of conditions in a Danish context through a survey of practitioners’ perceptions of practice and through interviews with practitioners. The findings support the growing criticism of the widespread notion that the choice of methods is a fundamental determinant of the success of public participation. The findings lead us to propose a more prominent role of contextual conditions in practice.

The use of social media in impact assessment: experiences among national infrastructure developers in Denmark

ABSTRACT Social media plays an increasingly prominent role in the interaction between impact assessments and society. Impact assessment is thus becoming part of social networks that are claimed to be able to improve interaction between actors in impact assessment processes. By investigating the use of social media in impact assessment and planning processes of national linear infrastructure development, we explore how social media impinge on participatory practices and how the potential of social media is realized in the current use related to public participation processes. The study focuses on experiences among national developers working in road, rail, electricity, gas, and metro infrastructures in Denmark. The article shows that the current use of social media in public participatory practices is limited to branding and on-way communication and that the increasing use of social media in linear infrastructure planning gives rise to a variety of concerns among developers that are related to especially organizational cultures, perception of the target groups, and prioritization of resources.