The paper reports progress in developing a multi-factor approach for determining environmental capacity. A key feature of the approach is a model that adopts a multiattribute utility concept in incorporating environmental factors into a single environmental utility function. This function, which accommodates the weighting of factors as perceived by the community, may be regarded as quantifying trade-offs between the environmental factors. By so doing, it is very likely that the resulting value of environmental capacity would not be the minimum one, as given by the single control factor approach, but would rather be an optimum solution. Hence, a more realistic figure of environmental capacity of a road might be obtained. Determination and quantification of the weighting of environmental factors as perceived by the community is the key element in this approach, which is the primary focus of this present paper. A brief overview of the multi-factor approach is presented and the role of environmental weighting factors outlined. From there the paper describes an extensive empirical data collection exercise, undertaken by way of a case study in the Indonesian City of Bandung, which was aimed at investigating parameters relevant to the model including the environmental weighting factors. Outcomes of this process are summarised as far as the weighting factors are concerned and the implications of these outcomes discussed. (A)
Abstract