Environmental Assessment of Socioeconomic Systems by D. Burkhardt (English) Pape

Publisher Description

Neglect of the relation between the socio-economic system and its natural environment has had detrimental consequences in the past, for example - the pollution of the natural environment (water, air and soil) by producing, using and consuming the products of our industrialized economy, - the forseeable exhaustion of natural resources by continuing the increase of industrial production. Most of the recent activities, both in research and in adminis­ tration, against these impacts have been technically oriented, with the aim of stimulating and introducing new technologies of produc­ tion and new products to diminish the environmental pollution. But these efforts, which are of course necessary, cannot be successful in approaching the aim - which should and must in the long-term view be defined as the development of society in balance with the natural environment. Therefore, in addition to an assess­ ment of technologies, emphasis should be put on an assessment of socio-economic systems. On di~~erent levels, individual and social preferences determine quantities and qualities of production and consumption using economical values, e.g., market prices as regula­ tors. Following this argumentation, an environment assessment of activities against pollution has especially to consider the social response to environmental impacts. Of course, this topic must be a subject of interdisciplinary research. The challenge concerned in this context is to increase the knowledge of the relationship between social, economic and tech­ nical subsets.

Table of Contents

Session I Methodology: Planning.- Systematic Distortion in Planning and Assessment.- Planning Sociotechnical Systems.- Demo-Economic Policy Simulations for Belgium.- Socio-Economic Systems, Urban Growth and Settlement Patterns (The Case of Turkey).- Session II Methodology: Prediction.- Some Future Uses of Analytic Forecasting.- The Development of Policy-Sensitive Models.- Intuitive Prediction of Growth.- Models for Prediction under Conditions of Interaction.- Session III Methodology: Assessment.- Universal Checklists in the Concept of "Impact Trees".- Problems with People, Decision, Conflict, Language and Measurement.- Long-Term Policy Assessment of Energy/Environment Systems: A Conceptual and Methodological Framework.- Economic and Environmental Assessment of a Water Quality Management System (River Neckar).- Behavior Settings: The Building Blocks of Social Systems.- Session IV Case Studies: Assessment of Technological Systems.- Government Regulation and Rail Safety.- Towards a Social Psychology of the Traffic Environment.- Control Methodology of the U.K. Road Traffic System.- Traffic Policing, Effectiveness Measurement and Resource Allocation.- A Suggested Framework for Evaluating the Assessment of a Technological System.- Assessment of Alternative Energy/Environment Futures: A Comparative Case Study of Wisconsin (USA), the German Democratic Republic, and Rhone-Alpes (France).- Session V Case Studies: Assessment of Social Systems.- The Distribution of Environmental Quality: Some Canadian Evidence.- Social Stability Analysis — Can Carrying Capacity Provide an Answer to Public Policy in Canada?.- Environmental Quality Change in Several Socio-Economic Contexts in France: 1970 – 1995.- Environmental Control: A Methodology for Planning Change in Public Housing.-Environment and Public Policy in the United States: A Diffusion Analysis.- Responses to Changing Urban Systems: An Analysis of Public Education.- Session VI Case Studies: Assessment of Social Impact.- Environment and Energy on the Texas Gulf Coast: An Economic Evaluation Model of Alternative Policies.- Environmental Pollution and Its Social Impact.- Social Perception of Industrial Odors.- Impact Assessment and Participation: Case Studies on Nuclear Power Siting in West Germany.- Environmental Planning and Social Response at the Strategy Level.- Register of Names.

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Long Description

Neglect of the relation between the socio-economic system and its natural environment has had detrimental consequences in the past, for example - the pollution of the natural environment (water, air and soil) by producing, using and consuming the products of our industrialized economy, - the forseeable exhaustion of natural resources by continuing the increase of industrial production. Most of the recent activities, both in research and in adminis

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