INTEGRATED URBAN ENVIRONMENT EFFECT ANALYSIS OF INFRASTRUCTURAL TRANSFORMATIONS

Rapport, 2022

The report presents the method developed within the research project ‘Stadsmiljöanalys- Analys av tätbebyggda miljöer i infrastrukturprojekt’, funded by Trafikverket (Swedish Transport Authority). This project sets up an integrated methodology for analysing and estimating the local impact of road and rail infrastructure projects in urban environments, either by way of new infrastructure or by way of retrofits, focusing on socioeconomic, environmental, and cultural-historical effects. While the focus is on national transport infrastructure investments, the method addresses local effects. This stems from the acknowledgement that each infrastructure investments results in a redistribution of accessibility where increasing accessibility on a regional and interurban scale might create encroachments on a local scale including the reduction of the usability of areas near to the infrastructure due to emissions and noise, risk of accidents, negative impacts on wildlife as well as barrier effects. It is these encroachments this method aims to highlight with the aim to reduce negative trade-offs of new or transformed transport infrastructure and recognize both local opportunities and sensitivities.
 
In this project the direct effects of infrastructure projects in relation to the three perspectives (socioeconomic, environmental, and cultural-historical are described and measured in a precise manner through a series of spatial analyses. The cumulative, indirect, effects and broader consequences are also assessed, in relation to the sustainable development goals. The overall assessment methodology is based on a before-and-after analysis workflow, systematically comparing the existing situation (how it is, how it functions, how it affects people) to the future scenarios proposed by planning. The methodology is showcased using two infrastructural transformations projects in Söderköping and Mölndal, Sweden, as case studies.
  
The overarching goal of the research project is to contribute to an improved integration between infrastructure and local urban areas and communities in projects initiated and developed by the Swedish Transport Authority, Trafikverket. The presented methodology builds on the ILKA (Integrerad landskapskaraktärsanalys) method, currently used by the Swedish Transport Authority. While ILKA focuses mainly on the inventory of the current landscape on a regional scale, this project widens the scope to also address urban areas and to include, besides the ecological descriptions, also socio-economic and cultural-historical analysis that are currently less emphasized. Such an integrated method can improve the ability of the Swedish Transport Authority to develop projects that contribute to sustainable urban development and, furthermore, create a unified work procedure in the organization.