ABSTRACT

Large-scale resource and energy developments like open-cut coal mines, power stations, transmission lines and pipelines often generate substantial and serious socioeconomic side effects. One of the most substantial from the social impact assessment perspective is the construction of an entire new community or the emergence of a "boomtown". Boomtowns may appear wherever there is large-scale resource developments, whether it be North Sea oil in the Shetland Islands, coal mines in Wyoming or British Columbia, power stations in Australia, or forest projects in South America. A. R. Alanen looks back over more than one hundred years of corporate sponsored newtowns in the Lake Superior mining region of the US He suggests that although social welfare was considered in these new towns, the ultimate intent was to increase productivity and profits. A number of references look at the problems of assessing preference for residential environments - often a problem in new town design.