ABSTRACT
The assessment of potential impacts of development proposals on the environment is a requirement under European law. The assessment of urban metabolism aspects is not a requirement in either SEA or EIA processes, its inclusion can provide valuable information on the environmental quality of urban areas. Documenting assessment findings is always supported by assessment tools including expert judgements, matrices, multi-criteria analysis, mapping and overlays using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and modelling. The objective is to provide a DSS that can be tailored to the planning hierarchy requirements, as well as to user preferences. The BRIDGE DSS is based on GIS to provide a spatial dimension to the assessment. It is associated with urban metabolism, and socio-economic considerations, and promotes their appropriate consideration within the capacity of the planning system. The results of the models are displayed in both spatial and averaged numerical formats.
