At a glance
- This Part of the ATAP Guidelines provides guidance on the appraisal of the urban amenity and liveability of transport options and initiatives. The concept of urban amenity and liveability involves a wide range of aspects such as quality of a place, aesthetics, the physical and urban design, how the place is used, and the extent to which a place supports quality of life, health and the general well-being of residents.
- Definitions of urban amenity and liveability are provided, and examples of the effects of transport initiatives on them are described. Accounting for these effects (positive and negative) contributes to good decision-making in transport planning as well as the appraisal of transport initiatives.
- Amenity and liveability should be included through the ATAP appraisal approach as outlined in Part F3 Chapter 3. The approach consists of:
- Clarification of relevant goals, transport system objectives and indicators
- Consideration of strategic merit / alignment
- Use of the ATAP triple bottom line appraisal elements of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and the Appraisal Summary Table (AST). The AST provides the mechanism for presenting all the appraisal results–monetised and non-monetised–in a single location.
- The guidance presented here provides practical approaches and implementation guidance. It does this within the ATAP assessment model.
- The guidance:
- Provides monetised parameter values for noise and urban separation
- Points to a range of non-market approaches that could provide some assistance to infer values for amenity and liveability
- Discusses a number of tools that can assist in assessing non-monetised amenity and liveability impacts.
- It is recognised there are considerable gaps in valuing and measuring urban amenity and liveability, and care needs to be taken in assigning project-specific values. Further research is required.
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