The studies part of the magazine contains a first essay describing the various focuses and approaches to the practice of strategic environmental assessment in Europe before the application of the 42/2001/EC directive, describing its putting into practice in various countries and current expectations. The legal aspects in Spain of implementing Strategic Environmental Assessment are described in a second article. The next essay provides an environmental assessment of the AGUA plan for making use of water resources from the environmental point of view. The third article discusses the environmental assessment of the special transport infrastructures plan (PEIT). The first part closes with an article explaining and clarifying the assumptions in the Spanish case for transposing the directive, presenting the contents of the recent Law 9/2006 on the assessment of the effects of specific plans and programmes on the environment.

The second part starts with an article on the experience of Strategic Environmental Assessment in urban planning in England. It continues with an article on procedures, techniques and methods for clarifying and simplifying the basic methodological questions and continues with the work on the experience of Strategic Environmental Assessment in the spatial plans in Catalonia. It ends with a bibliographic survey with comments on manuals, and source guides, backgrounds and example cases of Strategic Environmental Assessment in urban planning.

These texts are accompanied by the usual sections on a real estate observatory, correspondence, documentation and books and magazines including accumulated indices of the magazines published during 2006.

“This is a moment of great opportunity for debating spatial and urban planning, environmental assessment and the positive influence of both on Strategic Environment Assessment. This is the essential reason for producing a single theme edition of Ciudad y Territorio Estudios Territoriales on the environmental assessment of plans and programmes.
Law 9/2006, 28 April, on the environmental assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment which assimilates and transposes directive 2001/42/EC was approved at a doubly unusual time. On the one hand, the experience of almost two decades of work in assessing the environmental impact of projects has given rise to false expectations and has focused the debate on the transverse articulation of environmental policy, that is, on the ways of favouring the incorporation of environmental criteria in all administrative policies.”

08/02/2007

08/02/2007

José María de Ureña Francés Segre and Ignacio Español Echániz (rec.)

research

Urban Policy

Transport and infrastructure, Urban environment, Urban environment