THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED: SCALE IN THE ASSESSMENT AND PLANNING OF HIGHWAYS Sukhad Subodh Keshkamat Examining committee: Prof. Dr. Ir. Jos Arts, University of Groningen, The Netherlands. Prof. Dr. Ir. Jon Lovett, University of Twente, The Netherlands. Prof. Dr. Yola Georgiadou, University of Twente, The Netherlands. Prof. Dr. Menno-Jan Kraak, University of Twente, The Netherlands. ITC dissertation number 199 ITC, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands ISBN 978-90-6164-305-0 Copyright © 2011 by Sukhad Subodh Keshkamat. Cover significance: Front: An artistic impression of a 2-lane highway – a ribbon of asphalt stretching across a pristine terrain, towards a brighter future, enabling access to many without disturbance to any. Back: In the absence of highways, vehicular movement still goes on, causing severe long term degradation of vast swathes of land. Film-strip: The storyline between the two situations – social isolation, ecological values, traditional livelihoods, intergenerational equity, and the role of remote sensing, GIS and an understanding of scale in facilitating the right balance between them – is what this thesis is about. Cover designed by Sukhad Keshkamat, with assistance from Dr. Roel Slootweg and NE Tsendbazar. THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED: SCALE IN THE ASSESSMENT AND PLANNING OF HIGHWAYS DISSERTATION to obtain the degree of Doctor at the University of Twente, on the authority of the Rector Magnificus, Prof. Dr. H. Brinksma, on account of the decision of the graduation committee, to be publicly defended on the 13th day of December 2011 at 2.45 pm by Sukhad Subodh Keshkamat born on 28th April 1974 in Goa, India. This thesis is approved by: Prof. Dr. A (Anne) van der Veen, Promotor. Prof. Dr. Ir. M.F.A.M. (Martin) van Maarseveen, Promotor. Dr. Ir. M.H.P. (Mark) Zuidgeest, Assistant Promotor. Acknowledgements This dissertation brings to a close a journey which started in June 2006 when, as part of my Masters research on the Erasmus Mundus programme, I first mooted the idea of developing a methodology for highway planning that could be used to align roads more sensibly and sensitively. It has been a long arduous journey and I am greatly thankful to a lot of people for helping me complete it. To my mother and sister, my bulwarks, who afforded me the luxury of taking up opportunities without hog-tying me down with filial responsibilities - advising, guiding and being there for me whenever I needed. To my beloved granny (Aji), who I lost during this PhD and sorely miss. To my favorite aunts Atey and Lalit- maushi. To Nandika (minii haiir) who was always there by my side these years to share the smooth stretches, discuss work pleasurably and help straighten out the nasty kinks in life, RS and GIS. To Hindol, Bhoop and Chompsky who left, but never really left. And to Puttputt and Luttlutt, our two lovely whackos. Meeting Roel Slootweg was a turning point in my life; he gave my jugaadu ideas deeper significance, inspired and spurred me. He believed in me when I had lost faith in my own ability to finish successfully. He read my “junk” and helped to sort and make sense of it when I lost sight of the overall picture by delving too deep into something. I owe you big time, Roel. I have made so many splendid friendships along the way - Ben, Christine, Sabrina (and Nuno), Andre, Prasanna, Maitreyi, Jorien, Priya, Petra, Jelle, Matt, Divyani, Sekhar, Abel, Al-Joufie, Bahman, Mila, Khan. It was always heartening to know I could count on you. Especially Ben, Christine and Prasanna, who I could especially count on to discuss ideas, read and re-read multiple drafts, share a nice wine and terrible cooking while listening to me blaspheme and vent frustrations. I was privileged to share more than just a few nice moments with Hein van Gils, who always had an open door for me, Jan de Leeuw and Gianluca Miscione who always had an open ear, and Prof. Eric Smaling, Norman Kerle and Joan Looijen, who always had an open mind to listen to my ideas and help bake them. I hope to be able to continue and better these relationships. A big thanks to Mark Zuidgeest for helping me through these 4 years – without your oiling of all the abrasive parts, I am sure this journey would have had a very different ending. Big thanks also to Prof. Martin, who came in the very last stages, but made an immensely invaluable contribution to the successful culmination of this journey. Thanks also to Prof. Anne. I owe a big thanks to my Mongolian friends Nara and Mungu, who made my Mongolia field visit so easy fun and tremendously successful. I owe a special thanks to Solongo, Mungu and Nandika who made it so pleasurable and gave me a lasting emotional connection to this beautiful country and its lovely people. This acknowledgment cannot be complete if I don’t mention the proactively helpful and efficient Loes Colenbrander, the ever cheerful Theresa van den Boogaard and Marie Chantal. Nor is it complete without mentioning Roeloff and Ivo who received a relentless flow of Ebay parcels for me - always with amusement but with an ever ready helping-hand and a kind cheerful greeting to brighten up the dullest of dead days. To theefficient and cheerful Saskia, Yvet and Rony at The ITC Hotel, whose super- sunshine attitude leaves the motto “service with a smile” nothing but a dull cliché, To the IT guys Harold, Aiko, Maurice, Dino and Ard Kosters whose support I could count on through my numerous laptop problems – I am just not your “normal user”, but your help was always there, “again and again and again”. A special thanks also the librarians Carla, Nina, Marga and Petry, who always managed to satisfy my obscure literature requirements with admirable promptness and a genuine smile. I owe a big solid thanks to my IAIA connections. I learnt so much from them and became a proud part of the global fellowship of dedicated impact assessment professionals. Prof. Jos Arts, Arend Kolhoff, Bobbi Schijf, Bert Enserink and Arienne Naber from Netherlands, Prof. John Devlin and Prof. Nonita Yap from Canada, Sandra Mols from Sweden, Cassio Inglez de Souza from Brazil, Ritu Paliwal, Prof. Asha Rajvanshi and Prof. Vinod Mathur from India, Kalterina from Albania, Slavjanka from Macedonia and others. My thesis would not have been half as good if I didn’t have the opportunity to glean knowledge and experiences from all these lovely people in such friendly and pleasurable environments. ii Table of Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................... i Executive Summary ............................................................................ vii 1 Introducing planning and assessment of highways ....................... 1 Highlights ......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction ......................................................................................... 3 1.2 Highways - Planning and impact assessment ...................................... 9 1.2.1 Current practices in road planning ........................................................... 10 1.2.2 Current practices in road impact assessment ........................................... 17 1.3 Planning powered by integrated spatial assessment ........................ 29 1.3.1 Improving upon current planning practice ............................................... 30 1.3.2 Improving upon current impact assessment practice ............................... 32 1.4 The importance of issues of scale ..................................................... 33 2 The research ................................................................................ 43 Highlights ....................................................................................................... 43 2.1 Introduction ....................................................................................... 45 2.2 The research niche ............................................................................ 48 2.3 Research objectives ........................................................................... 48 2.3.1 General/overall objective ......................................................................... 48 2.3.2 Specific objectives ..................................................................................... 48 2.4 Thesis structure ................................................................................. 49 3 Key methodological aspects ........................................................ 53 Highlights ....................................................................................................... 53 3.1 Introduction ....................................................................................... 55 3.2 Tiered assessment and planning ....................................................... 56 3.3 Applying scale to tiering .................................................................... 61 3.4 Spatial multi-criteria analysis ............................................................ 63 4 A boundary object on scale.......................................................... 67 Highlights ....................................................................................................... 67 4.1 Introduction: The boundary concept ................................................ 69 4.1.1 Scale of Reality.......................................................................................... 71 4.1.2 Scale of Model .........................................................................................