Sustainability Assessment is an increasingly important tool for informing planning and development decisions across the globe. This book surveys the current state and future of Sustainability Assessment decision-making tools. Written by authors among the leading university academics teaching impact assessment courses in the most acclaimed universities worldwide operating in this field, it is ideally suited for the growing numbers of courses in impact assessment education and training.

Preface Part 1: Introduction 1. Why Sustainability Assessment? 2. The Changing Theory of Impact Assessment Part 2: Sustainability Assessment Pluralism 3. Challenges in Determining the Effectiveness of Sustainability Assessment 4. Contested Time Horizons 5. Contested Spatiality: Geographical Scale in Sustainability Assessment 6. Legal Pluralism - Notions of Standing and Legal Process Constraining Assessment 7. Pluralism in Practice Part 3: Sustainability Assessment Practice 8. Framework for Comparing and Evaluating Sustainability Assessment Practice 9. Sustainability Assessment in England 10. Sustainability Assessment in Western Australia 11. Sustainability Assessment in Canada 12. Sustainability Assessment in South Africa Part 4: Solutions? 13. Better Engagement 14. Better Learning 15. Designing an Effective Sustainability Assessment Process 16. Integrating Sustainability Assessment into Planning 17. Conclusions