Social IMPACT Assessment of Urban Transport Projects

Urban Transport Projects, be it transport networks, terminals, hubs, nodes have impacted the environment, people, properties all over the world. Both the regional networks as well as city based projects have had both desirable and undesirable impacts as also direct and indirect impacts. The prime and the most significant of the impacts of the transport projects have been the social impacts. Social impacts relate to the impacts on people, land, property, livelihood and economic activity, health, safety and security, cultural heritage, social values and community cohesiveness and mobility.  While in many cases the mobility has increased, people have been displaced, losing their land, property, livelihood and so on. The project-affected people have been directly and indirectly affected or displaced families, vulnerable groups of varied indigenous and ethnic communities. It also includes elderly, socially and economically backward people, old and the sick, women, differently abled people.

Though many policies and legislations are there in India, there is no approach or methodology of assessing the benefits and losses of the project affected persons for the assessment of social impacts. 

The paper puts forth a methodology or a toolkit for Social impact assessment of urban transport projects in India.