Exploring Strategic Environmental Assessment in the Context of a Rapidly Urbanizing Municipality: A Case Study of the Regional Municipality of York (original) (raw)

The purpose of this case-based, collaborative research project was to extend practical and theoretical understanding of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) to the related, but in practice poorly coordinated, processes of project-level environmental assessment (EA), master planning and regional land-use planning. The subject of the case study is the Regional Municipality of York, located immediately north of the City of Toronto in Ontario, Canada. A participatory action research approach, which included an extensive review of background literature, interviews with key informants, a review of policy documents, and participant observation, was used in this project to explore SEA in York Region. The research findings indicate that SEA plays a unique role in the context of regional government, functioning as a tool for communication between EA practitioners, planners, decision makers and the general public. SEA is beneficial because it fosters transparent decision making; is a means...

Sign up for access to the world's latest research.

checkGet notified about relevant papers

checkSave papers to use in your research

checkJoin the discussion with peers

checkTrack your impact