Beyond EIA - Incorporating Environment into the Engineering Design Process

Abstract

With some two decades of experience in environmental assessment of projects behind us, it is time to recognise that we must go beyond EIA. Many engineering and scientific professionals involved in the process find it an inefficient and, too often, an intellectually unsatisfying procedure. What environmental scientists and engineers must look towards are ways of incorporating environmental issues into the design process - going beyond EIA as a decision-making document and developing the predictive and evaluative tools currently used in environmental impact assessment procedures to integrate environmental factors directly into the existing design processes. Examples from the field of transportation engineering and urban design are provided.