Abstract
The Interactive Community Forum is a method of social impact assessment that seeks community members' judgments of social impacts resulting from project alternatives in an environmental impact assessment. The method employs a participant-driven description of the social system along with a set of community constructs to guide in the identification of anticipated social impacts. A diversity of participants with different areas of community involvement are exposed to a structured small group process where information is shared and community-level impacts are deliberated. Based on group discussion, participants project social impacts and identify measures necessary for their mitigation. The Interactive Community Forum thereby provides a means to integrate local knowledge into an Environmental Impact Statement and inform environmental decision-making through a modified public involvement process.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 367-382 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| Journal | Environmental Impact Assessment Review |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - May 2003 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We are grateful for the financial support from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Resources For The Future in the development and subsequent examination of the Interactive Community Forum methodology. We are also appreciative for comments provided by Lewis Carter and Matthew Carroll, and for the fieldwork assistance of graduate students and faculty in the Department of Resource Recreation and Tourism at the University of Idaho.
Copyright:
Copyright 2017 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
Keywords
- Public involvement
- Public judgment
- Small group processes
- Social impact assessment
