This thesis explores Neighbourhood and Building Environmental Assessment Tools’ (NBEATs’) function as assessment tools and decision support, and their relation to environment, architecture and architects. This is done by analysing, testing, and discussing a number of NBEATs (LEED-NC, Code for Sustainable Homes, EcoEffect, LEED-ND, BREEAM-C, and ENSLIC-tool), their manuals and use. Moreover, professionals’ (architects’) self-rated opinions regarding use and knowledge of NBEATs and environmental aspects are surveyed. Similarities and differences in NBEATs are found regarding: content, structure, weighting and indicators used. Indicators distinguished as procedure, performance and feature are used to varying extents to assess social, environmental and technical aspects. NBEATs relation to environmental sustainability has limitations due to: non-transparency, tradable indicators, relative measures, low criteria levels, limited life cycle perspective, and exclusion of relevant environmental aspects, such as embedded toxic substances, nutrient cycles, land use change, and ecosystem services. Ratings and architecture are influenced by NBEATs in varying ways. Higher criteria levels would probably increase their impact on architecture. Thus more research regarding NBEATs and links to architectural design, theory and practice is welcomed. There is limited use of NBEATs as decision support in early design phases such as in architectural competitions. Architects rate the importance of environmental aspects high, but few rate their skill in handling environmental aspects high. This calls for increasing knowledge and know-how of environmental strategies and solutions among architects and adaptation of NBEATs to early design processes. The values NBEATs reflect and the values we want them to create is also important. To support ‘environmental’ architecture, an increased socio-eco-technological system perspective is put forward, and other measures besides NBEATs are needed. / <p>QC 20160926</p>

This thesis explores how planning for sustainable development can be enhanced in Australia with a particular focus on strategic plans. Today, the concept of sustainable development has not been fully operationalised into plans; market and political forces still play a predominant role in planning practice. Nevertheless, some authors believe that the concept of sustainable development has reinvigorated planning. For example, there is an extensive literature on this topic within planning theory, although in practice, sustainable development has been difficult to implement. This thesis after acknowledging the relevance of economy and politics, provides an alternative approach to operationalise sustainable development in plans through a technical perspective. This perspective is based on the examination, from literature, of several techniques which deal with sustainable development. The central idea is that these techniques can be embraced under one concept,

Methods and techniques for environmental impact assessment (EIA) and development of land use management options are described. The methods and techniques have specific application in Defence estate management, and general application in other areas of land use assessment and management. The EIA methodology includes techniques for land cover and soil classification, land capability and suitability assessment. The biophysical classifications and assessment techniques are based on the application of various para and non- parametric approaches. The study area for the application of the EIA methods and techniques was the Singleton Training Area (STA) in the Hunter Valley of central New South Wales. Defence estates are required to provide a wide range of terrain and other environmental conditions to support the development of combat related tactics. The maintenance of these areas for sustainable use is fundamental in achieving both military and land use management objectives. The EIA of the STA provided a means of testing the efficiency of the methods and techniques developed in this thesis. The baseline resource inventory data used in the EIA includes land cover and vegetation maps derived from satellite digital data and soils maps derived from both conventional methods and airborne gammaradiation data. This information, together with the military land use requirements provided the basis for land capability and suitability assessment, and development of land use management options.

Canadas Beaufort Sea-Mackenzie Delta Basin possesses significant energy resource potential. Decisions about energy development, however, are largely project-based and do not always provide an opportunity for more efficient and more effective regional and strategic approaches to development impact assessment and management. As such, there are constant messages about the need for a more regional and strategic form of environmental assessment, practiced above the project level and focused on broader planning-based assessment as a means to sustainability assurance. The problem, however, is that there is no formal system of regional or strategic assessment (R-SEA) in northern Canada, and considerations as to what R-SEA is and what it should deliver are far from consolidated. The role of R-SEA must be better understood and a means found to make it a meaningful component and accepted and worthwhile part of planning, regulation and development decision-making. The purpose of this thesis is to identify stakeholder understandings and expectations about R-SEA, and its potential roles and opportunities in Arctic energy planning and assessment. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews with knowledgeable stakeholders in Arctic oil and gas initiatives, including energy regulators, industry, and energy interest groups, as well as Inuvialuit governments and community boards. Four key themes are identified and discussed: the efficacy of the current approach to environmental assessment for offshore energy development; knowledge of R-SEA; RSEA benefits and risks; and opportunities and challenges to advancing R-SEA in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region (ISR). Only consultation and engagement was seen by most participants as working well within the current EA system in the study area. Many challenges were raised, however, which would indicate a need for a new or revised approach to EA in the study area. There was agreement on the need for a more regional and strategic approach to EA in the ISR, but there was no consensus amongst participants as to the nature and scope of R-SEA and what it is intended to deliver. Though there continues to be much confusion regarding the terminology used, it appears that participants are identifying the same deliverables and advantages, suggesting that they are looking for similar benefits. Challenges to moving such a process forward include leadership, coordination of interests, financial resources, legislated versus voluntary approaches, and human capacity in the ISR region. Future research is needed to address the perceived risks and challenges raised by participants for R SEA to be a worthwhile and effective process.

In Canada, interest in regional strategic environmental assessment as a framework for assessing cumulative environmental effects is growing. Strategic environmental assessment, and in particular regional strategic environmental assessment, is generally regarded as the preferred assessment framework within which to address cumulative effects due to its broad scale of assessment and its focus on influencing future development. However, very little research has been done to confront the challenges, either conceptually or methodologically, in operationalizing strategic environmental assessment at a regional scale and in assessing cumulative environmental effects in this regional and strategic context. This dissertation advances work in this area by defining a conceptual framework and generic methodology for regional strategic environmental assessment that deliberately integrates cumulative effects considerations.<p> The research methodology includes a literature review, framework and case reviews, and three sets of interviews with Canadian and international practitioners, academics, and administrators knowledgeable on strategic environmental assessment and cumulative effects assessment issues. The research results are reported in four manuscripts. The first manuscript presents a typology of current approaches to regional cumulative effects assessment. The second manuscript reviews lessons from recent attempts at regional-scale, strategically-focused environmental analysis in Canada that include an impact assessment component and explicit attention to cumulative environmental effects. The third manuscript presents a structured framework for regional strategic environmental assessment in Canada, and the fourth manuscript discusses conceptual and methodological challenges that accompany the integration of strategic environmental assessment and cumulative effects assessment.<p> Significant findings include that cumulative effects assessment does indeed represent a significant conceptual and methodological challenge in a strategic assessment context and that cumulative effects assessment in this context requires more than simply adding up direct effects. Further, this research indicates that the seminal contribution of regional strategic environmental assessment is to determine the pace and nature of future development in a region, including significant regional environmental thresholds, targets, and limits; and to inform decision makers of the broader, the slower-moving, the farther-reaching, and perhaps the more insidious currents of environmental change. Moving forward, there is a need to further develop and demonstrate approaches to cumulative effects assessment in a strategic context, develop a supportive legislative and regulatory framework for regional strategic environmental assessment in Canada, and define the unique contribution of regional strategic assessment in relation to regional planning and management.

The pace of development in Canada's North has renewed concerns about the potential cumulative effects of increasing industrial growth on fragile northern ecosystems. Recent developments in the diamond industry in the Slave Geological Province have highlighted the potential additive and synergistic effects of such development. For example, Aboriginal communities are worried about the health of the Bathurst caribou herd, which is considered central to their way of life. This concern is compounded by the lack of integration of environmental assessment and planning efforts, which could serve to better protect the environment. This research considers the challenges associated with the assessment of cumulative effects, and various approaches to meet these challenges. Diamond mining in the Slave Geological Province, including the BHP and Diavik diamond mines, is used as a case study. Four sustainability-based criteria are developed to evaluate the past and existing situation in the diamond region, and to form the basis for recommendations that would contribute to a more holistic approach to integrating cumulative effects considerations into environmental assessment and regional planning. The analysis demonstrates that although several mechanisms are currently in place to assess cumulative environmental effects, no single initiative fully meets each of the four criteria. However, existing tools can be used and supplemented to identify appropriate response options. The sustainability-based criteria developed here can contribute to further research on cumulative effects assessment and sustainability. The sustainability-based criteria developed here can be adopted for other case studies, to identify strengths and weaknesses, and to develop case specific recommendations for a more holistic approach to integrating cumulative effects considerations into environmental assessment and regional planning. This examination of how cumulative effects assessment has been approached in the Slave Geological Province also provides insight into the broader implications of regional cumulative effects management.

As Canada employs a federated system of government, there are separate environmental assessment (EA) processes. In Ontario, Canada, there is a streamlined, pre-approved, self-assessed process (i.e., the Minister of the Environment’s approval is not required) for “classes” of projects. These Class EA projects are routine, with known impacts, being predictable and mitigable, in a southern Ontarian environment. However, it is assumed that Class EA protocol developed in the southern Ontarian context is directly transferable to northern Ontario. A case-based approach, using the Victor Mine electricity transmission line project, was employed to critically examine whether the Class EA template developed in southern Ontario, could be effectively applied to the western James Bay region of northern Ontario. Specifically, the two assumptions (and corollaries) of Class EAs of predictability (corollaries: the environment is similar in all locations where Class EAs are applied; and the environment is well understood) and mitigability (corollary: all negative effects are mitigable) were examined. Primary (semi-directive interviews) and secondary (literature search) data were used to inform a themed analysis. Results indicate that the northern environment is unique: biophysically, the western James Bay area is Ontario’s only salt water coastal region, and contains one of the largest wetland regions in the world; and socio-economically, no southern Ontarian region can claim that one third of their total regional economy is related to subsistence pursuits. In addition, the northern environment is dynamic, disproportionately changing over time with respect to climate change and post-glacial isostatic adjustment. Moreover, not all negative effects are mitigable (i.e., the effects the existing electrical transmission line has had on waterfowl harvesting). Thus, the Class EA template is not transferable to the northern Ontarian context. Similarly, in other northern regions of the world where glacial isostatic adjustment is a reality and these regions uniqueness must be recognized and be reflected in the EA process, if a process exists.

Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) has been practiced in Canada since the early 1970s. However, its added value to policies plans and programs (PPPs) has yet to be fully realized. Consequently, many planners and decision makers are skeptical about the benefits of SEA, in part because of the lack of cases to indicate its added value to PPP development or downstream assessment. Much of the SEA evaluation research to date has focused on the procedural requirements and process elements of SEA rather than on its outputs and outcomes. The overall purpose of this research was to examine the efficacy of SEA and “SEA like” processes in Canada. The research examined how SEA practices have influenced PPP development, decision-making and subsequent actions in Canada. Data were collected using SEA efficacy evaluation criteria through semi-structured interviews with experts and non-experts across Canada based on their experience with and perspectives on the ‘impact’ of SEA. There has not been any study into the efficacy of SEA that is based on its added value. Most studies so far have focused on SEA inputs and process rather than outputs and broader outcomes in Canada. This research contributed not only to SEA efficacy studies, but also to improved SEA application and value added for PPP development in Canada.

The effect of federalism on the development of public policy is a widely debated topic. In terms of environmental policy, this issue assumes greater importance because of the lack of clarity in the constitutional division of powers. It is the purpose of this research to examine environmental impact assessment (EIA) &mdash; one of the higher-profile aspects of environmental policy &mdash; in order to establish how intergovernmental relations in Canada have affected policy and process development in this area. It is hypothesized that unilateral federal action in this policy area contributes to a corresponding increase in the stringency of provincial EIA processes. To test this, a two-step analysis is adopted: first analyzing developments at both the federal and provincial levels from 1985-1995 &mdash; a period which witnessed exceptionally high levels of public concern for the environment and increased federal involvement in EIA &mdash; and second discussing key events and agreements which affected intergovernmental relations and determining whether these related to those developments identified. This research finds that greater federal involvement in EIA was a catalyst for some positive reform at the provincial level, although this result varied significantly between the provinces examined. Based on the evidence gathered, it is concluded that some form of intergovernmental collaboration and competition both have a place in the development of EIA policy and that neither should be pursued as an end in itself.

The pace of development in Canada's North has renewed concerns about the potential cumulative effects of increasing industrial growth on fragile northern ecosystems. Recent developments in the diamond industry in the Slave Geological Province have highlighted the potential additive and synergistic effects of such development. For example, Aboriginal communities are worried about the health of the Bathurst caribou herd, which is considered central to their way of life. This concern is compounded by the lack of integration of environmental assessment and planning efforts, which could serve to better protect the environment. This research considers the challenges associated with the assessment of cumulative effects, and various approaches to meet these challenges. Diamond mining in the Slave Geological Province, including the BHP and Diavik diamond mines, is used as a case study. Four sustainability-based criteria are developed to evaluate the past and existing situation in the diamond region, and to form the basis for recommendations that would contribute to a more holistic approach to integrating cumulative effects considerations into environmental assessment and regional planning. The analysis demonstrates that although several mechanisms are currently in place to assess cumulative environmental effects, no single initiative fully meets each of the four criteria. However, existing tools can be used and supplemented to identify appropriate response options. The sustainability-based criteria developed here can contribute to further research on cumulative effects assessment and sustainability. The sustainability-based criteria developed here can be adopted for other case studies, to identify strengths and weaknesses, and to develop case specific recommendations for a more holistic approach to integrating cumulative effects considerations into environmental assessment and regional planning. This examination of how cumulative effects assessment has been approached in the Slave Geological Province also provides insight into the broader implications of regional cumulative effects management.