From impact assessment to recommendation: How are the impact assessment results presented and used?

Most work on impact assessment (IA) deals with data, technique, and procedures for making the assessment. While these things can influence the final choice of planning alternative, it is equally important how the assessment results are used in the political decision process. The case material concerns integrated transportation and land use plans for the 10 largest urban regions in Norway. It is demonstrated that application of the impact assessment results varies widely among the cities. The information potential of the impact calculations is considerably underexploited in many cases, and assessment results seem too easily ignored in the process of reaching a recommendation on planning strategy. Some factors are identified and discussed in an attempt to shed light on this phenomenon.