ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the particular case of linear projects and discusses methodological issues for meeting the challenges such projects raise. Social impact assessment research is inherently uncertain, time-consuming, resource intensive and difficult. In most of this work the emphasis is on cumulative impacts on biophysical environmental elements, and it is clear from this review that most practitioners see cumulative impact assessment as an arena in which quantitative methodologies are used for addressing additive environmental effects. Finsterbusch's discussion of the foundations of social impact assessment emphasizes a concern for justice, accountability and exploitation in the context of plural democratic societies. The incorporation of human rights issues into social impact assessment has been an issue of discussion within the International Association for Impact Assessment, particularly in the context of large-scale resource projects in the Third World. Impact assessment is accepted as an integral part of project design and evaluation in Australia.
