- Building the cumulative Impact Assessment System within the regulatory detailed Planning Framework in China    192 kb by    Shen, Na & Liang, Jiang & Sun, Hui | shennacc@163.com    Short Outline From the aspects of the legal framework, re-view components, technical measures, and procedural design, the paper establishes a threshold of the Cumulative Impact Assess-ment within the existing the Regulatory De-tailed Planning Framework in China. Abstract In the past 30 years in China, the urban development and urban sprawl have put tremendous pressure not only on the ecological system and natural environment, but also on the artificial environment such as transportation, infrastructure, and public facilities, etc. The cumulative impact accumulated over time and space by many different projects can pose very serious threat to the environment, and must be evaluated and controlled in an adequate and effective way. The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) system currently implemented in China lays particular emphasis on the direct impact on natural environment, but rarely considers the indirect and cumulative impact. In recent years, the subject of EIA has been extensively researched, nevertheless the cumulative impact assessment (CIA) is still an unfamiliar topic in China, and needs to be further explored. As the major planning tool in the Chinese land use control, the Regulatory Detailed Planning (RDP) has an inherent advantage in the development review process to manage the cumulative impact. However, RDP lacks explicit control intention and effective control measures on the proposed projects at present, which can result in the rapid degradation of the natural and artificial environment with the accelerating speed of urbanization. From the aspects of the legal framework, review components, technical measures, and procedural design, this paper explores the possibility and necessity of conducting CIA in the regulatory process of RDP, and attempts to establish a threshold of the CIA review system. Additional, the authors suggest that the focus of CIA should be put both on nature environment and artificial environment, in order to prevent cumulative impact effectively and promote sustainable urban development. Keywords Cumulative Impact Assessment; Environmental Impact Assessment; Regulatory Detailed Planning Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2008: Urban Growth without Sprawl   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper