Abstract
In this paper, we propose a mixed methods quantitative and qualitative approach to capture fully the measurable and less tangible social impacts of transport projects on local people and communities. The approach was used to assess the potential social impacts of a strategic road by-pass project case study in a deprived region of Wales in the UK. The project specifically aimed to stimulate local economic growth and regeneration in the local areas it serves. In a ‘before and after’ case study, we combined fine-grained, GIS-based spatial analysis of secondary datasets with qualitative participative exercises with the local residents of the five communities living adjacent to the road, and interviews with professional local stakeholders. This mixed methods approach significantly enhanced understanding of both the social benefits and disbenefits of the road project. It helped to reveal local concerns that would not otherwise have been apparent from secondary dataset analysis alone. The qualitative studies were also successful in bringing to the table new ‘hard to reach’ voices that had not been heard through the formal consultation and public engagement process. The study revealed that the social benefits accruing to local people from the project could have been significantly enhanced, whilst a number of its locally occurring negative social impacts could have been avoided had social assessment been employed earlier in the decision processes concerning its routing and design. Recommendations to improve the practice and uptake of social assessments at the option appraisal, project design mitigation and post evaluation stages of transport projects are included in the paper.
Highlights
Despite increasing efforts within research and policy circles to understand the social and health implications of transport interventions and policies, measurement and assessment of them in practice is extremely limited
The economic dimension of transport appraisal remains dominant at all levels of UK policy decision-making and both economic and environmental impact assessments have been the subject of extensive academic research in recent years
The social assessment approach we developed for our case study, as it is described in this paper, was purposefully constructed to address some of the shortfalls in current practices that we have identified above
Summary
Despite increasing efforts within research and policy circles to understand the social and health implications of transport interventions and policies, measurement and assessment of them in practice is extremely limited. In the UK, social and distributional impacts (SDI) appraisal is part of the overall transport appraisal toolkit but is only a requirement for major road schemes costing over £10 million (Department for Transport 2018—TAG Units 4.1 and 4.2). It is a ‘desk based’ methodology, so it remains an open question as to whether the outputs of these analyses are sufficient for decision-makers to fully assess social and distributional impacts of new transport interventions. This paper describes a mixed methods quantitative and qualitative approach to social assessment, which was tested in an applied ‘before and after’ opening case study of an interurban road project in South Wales, UK. The study is UK-focused, it offers many useful insights for researchers and practitioners who are grappling with issues of social justice in the field of transport in other national, regional and local contexts
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