Technology Assessment/Environmental Impact Assessment: Toward Integrated Impact Assessment

After a decade of experience with technology assessment (TA), environmental impact assessment (EIA), and social impact assessment (SIA) (and newer variants of impact assessment), it is time for the practitioners to draw together to confront their common intellectual problems. Reflection on the state of the art of impact assessment suggests useful dimensions along which to consider assessment activities. Ten component tasks are identified to provide a basis for considering the adequacy of assessment performance. An overarching task, the need to integrate component contributions from professionals of diverse disciplinary backgrounds, stands out as critical. In addition, the need to integrate professional with public contributions so as to achieve sound impact assessments attuned to concerns of the interested parties appeas crucial. Validation of analytical techniques, evaluation of study approahes, and development of usable theory of sociotechnical change processes are essential to the further professionalization of practice. These issues warrant a prominent place in the agenda for integrated impact assessment in the 1980´ s.