Environmental Impact Assessment of Large Commercial Complexes in Metropolises Using RIAM and EMP, Case Study of Arg Commercial Center

Nowadays, large areas of urban land are dedicated to commercial uses, and the trend towards shopping center construction has intensified. As a type of public space, commercial spaces, have conquered cities and snatched the lead from other land uses in the city. Commercial centers have turned into part of people’s lifestyles in this era, and have played an important role in the retail industry. Besides the positive economic effects of the savings, these centers have also caused damage to the environment.  Theoretical FrameworkIn today’s intellectual world, a proper urban environment is an influential factor in human social life. Like all environments in which life takes place, the urban environment affects and is affected by human activities, and this interaction can lead to environmental catastrophes if destructive, due to the large populations that are involved. Today, the problems that have arisen in the environmental input conditions are troubling many cities in the country, and the preservation of the urban environment in urban development and management plans has been subject to plenty of inconsistency and negligence. Numerous approaches and theories have been proposed on the subject of the urban environment and healthy city, such as garden city movement, eco-city (ecological city), compact city, smart city, sustainable development, etc.According to the above theories and following a detailed study of each, the sustainability approach can be considered as the most common, practical approach in the present century. Sustainable development can be defined as the management of the relationships between human systems and natural ecosystems with the aim of sustainable use of resources to ensure the well-being of present and future generations. Therefore, the theoretical approach of this paper involves sustainable development. 

The study area includes the Arg commercial center, located in the Tajrish area, Tehran. The availability of the old bazaar, malls, and shopping places has turned the Tajrish neighborhood and its surroundings into a major commercial center in the north of Tehran. The economic prosperity thus brought to the neighborhood has caused many problems due to the multiplication of the population during the day. The main square in the area in the past was the current Tajrish Square, next to which commercial centers and houses were built.Using the method of systematic study in this descriptive research, quantitative statistical methods were adopted at the descriptive level. Moreover, the research technique was selected based on the application of the EIA model, with the help of RIAM. Among the various methods of environmental impact assessment, the Rapid Impact Assessment Matrix, also known as the Pastakia Matrix, could objectively and conceptually assess and compare options in plans and projects and display the results clearly and concisely as tables and graphs.The Environmental Management Plan could help reduce the adverse effects of a project and ensure that the current quality of the environment is maintained. This plan provides solutions in all the stages of planning, construction, operation, and post-operation of a development project concerning the environment. The development of an environmental management plan is aimed mainly at projects for which EIA studies have not been carried out before construction, as in the case study of the Arg commercial center. Whereas environmental impact assessment studies begin at the same time as the cognition phase and before its approval, with executive operations in some cases, the environmental management plan section of these reports would never be implemented in practice due to the non-location of the provided solutions and suggestions, and would be removed from the agenda. Thus, no control or auditing was performed on the impacts of the project on the environment. 

In order to demonstrate the significance of whether the construction of the Arg commercial center at the current location was appropriate, a rapid impact assessment matrix was developed in the present study in four physical-chemical, bio-ecological, socio-cultural, and economic-technical environments. After a detailed study of each of the four affected environments, we obtained the sum of all the ranges of change, where range -D, with environmental scores ranging from -36 to -71, clearly exhibited the largest number of adverse effects, and the physical-chemical environment had the largest number of negative components. The results indicated the severity of the negative impacts caused by the construction of Arg.The possible consequences of the project once implemented on the environment were identified, given the nature of various activities after the project and the current conditions of the environment in the area. In addition, the legal regulations were reviewed. 

An acceptable method of achieving the purposes of sustainable development is to make environmental assessments for projects, which can be made available to managers, planners, and decision-makers as a planning tool. These days, the high dignity of human beings and efforts to increase their comfort are often ignored in the design, construction, and location of commercial spaces, and only economic benefits are considered, dominating other dimensions of sustainability, such as the environmental dimension.Finally, it is suggested that the environmental impact assessment for large commercial complexes be made early upon the project proposal, i.e. in the recognition phase, and a construction permit be issued for the center in question after all the above evaluation reports are compiled and defended.