Social impact assessment and managing urban transport-infrastructure projects: towards a framework to evaluate post-facto effectiveness

Social Impact Assessment (SIA) practitioners in major urban transport infrastructure projects, assess and facilitate the equitable distribution of social benefits and costs, while balancing governmental policy objectives and stakeholder interests. Public investment in transport infrastructure shapes the future of cities, yet post-facto evaluation of SIA for such projects is rare. This thesis develops an evaluation framework for post-facto assessment of transport infrastructure project SIAs, which will improve societal understanding of the relationship between project, outcomes and policy objectives. Using the Parramatta Rail Link proposal as a case study, it examines external political decision-making forces, namely government, regulatory and financial processes, that influence whether social and transport policy objectives can be met, against the influence of strategic government masterplans and the development approval process. SIA and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) practitioners assist projects in meeting policy objectives by applying good practice during the EIA process. Long-term accountability is established external to political cycles, through legally-enforced effective management strategies and monitoring programs. This research highlights that the agenda of strategic social and transport policy objectives should be considered as early as during the business case development, to achieve the greatest potential for delivering equitable social outcomes.