Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is a system which supports higher-level plan processes such as urban master plans. This study discusses how to expand the participation of various stakeholders when establishing urban master plans and suggests ...
Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is a system which supports higher-level plan processes such as urban master plans. This study discusses how to expand the participation of various stakeholders when establishing urban master plans and suggests a guideline that fulfills SEA with the basis of sustainability at each stage, from the incipient phase of establishing an urban master plan. In particular, this paper focuses on the future image establishment process, the most important part of an urban master plan as a long-term comprehensive plan. Based on six factors?basic research, future image establishment, resident participation, role of the expert and related organization, (strategic environmental) assessment, follow up management? the study summarizes recent academic discussions, pinpoints problems of urban master p lans a nd S EA t hrough a nalyses of preceding s tudies, and identifies the status of urban master plan establishment and benchmarking elements as examined from domestic and foreign case studies. The various problems that exist in the establishment of domestic urban master plans are as follows: excessively centralized planning authority; “developmentism” that ignores other concerns; establishment of excessively high population indices; limitations on establishment of goals; lack of integration of plans; pro forma resident participation, and; limitations in the f ormation and operation of urban planning committees. Other areas that need to be addressed include the post f acto consultation system of SEA as well as a lack of integration of environmental assessment systems, of capabilities for system enforcement, and of sufficient time. Currently, however, all guidelines on strategic environment assessment of urban master plans do not suggest proposals to address such problems. According to the results of a survey conducted to grasp the status of domestic urban master plan establishment, persons in charge of urban master plans have recognized that public participation is needed when establishing future images. Seoul introduced a participatory method of various experts and residents, and Cheonju forwarded numerous efforts toward dialogue with local residents and various stakeholders throughout the process of urban master plan establishment. However, the resident participation method suffered from limitations, for it was not a tool with which to encourage the residents to voice carefully considered opinions based on sufficient knowledge, and lacked considerations for sustainability. To address such problems, there has been a development of an integrated guideline that emphasizes the principle of sustainability and the importance of the establishment of future image when establishing urban master plans. Meaningful reflections about the method of public participation and sustainability appraisal are still lacking, however. Recently, several strategic environmental assessment studies have paid attention to the importance of public participation, expert knowledge brokerage and learning, as well as setting of clear goals as methods that will create more sustainable plans and contribute to transparent participatory decision-making process. According to the results analyzing Sacramento and London, the representative cities that conducted SEA in the urban master plan processes, plenty of time and effort were allotted to allow public participation, and SEA was outlined from the incipient stages of the plans. In the case of London, various s takeholders review and amend the d raf ts o f the London plan f or a long duration, and there is a continued, organic interaction of the urban master plan and sustainability appraisal. With its strong tradition of community involvement, Sacramento held a town hall forum several times to establish the future of the city and its three alternatives as analyzed in Master Plan Environmental Impact Report as part of SEA. The process of future image establishment is emphasized in urban master plans because the way to a successful SEA is first establishing the normative future image within the context of the sustainable city, then outlining the action plan. By using the participatory backcasting approach, several projects abroad have been discovering the needs of the c itizens concerning a sustainable future, establishing a future image after clustering of citizens` opinions, writing and evaluating scenarios, and forging action plans. Based on an analysis of the best practices, this study has drawn up the basic principles of the SEA of urban master plans and a proposal for guideline improvement, in addition to suggesting a viable operating manual. By introducing backcasting, the procedure of problem recognition-future image establishment-action plan was emphasized, and participatory techniques such as future-needs discovery workshop and basic goal establishment workshop were actively employed. In addition, the criteria of sustainability assessment, assessment of scenario comparison, and participation of various actors (including environmental experts) were suggested as the means to guarantee sustainability of a city`s future image and action plans.