Social impact evaluation design. In urban planning and regional development there is an increasing requirement to go beyond an assessment of traditional environmental and ecological impacts and examine the social impacts of proposed developments (Fenton, 2005). The impact is the change resulting from the implementation of a set of activities in a certain social context, and it is an evidence-based methodology which estimates the likely effects. Social impacts include changes in people’s way of life, their culture, community, political systems, environment, health and wellbeing, their personal and property rights and their fears and aspirations. These impacts can be positive or negative. In short, a social impact is a significant improvement or deterioration in people’s well-being (Mahur, 2011). The evaluation system builds on the previous conditions to determine the following ones, while the theory of change supports in this cycle building, taking as the starting point the social context (social characterization) where the interventions are deployed. The social characterization provides the contextual and concurring factors detected in the social environment where the MAtchUP interventions are deployed, a good diagnosis and perspective of the social performance and objectives on the different dimensions. The Theory of Change (TOC) explains how activities are understood to produce a series of results that contribute to achieving the expected final impacts. It can be developed for any level of intervention, be it an event, a project, a program, a policy, a strategy or an organization. In an impact evaluation, the theory of change is useful to establish what data need to be collected and how they should be analysed. In order to develop a theory of change, it is important to ensure that the theory adequately represents what the intervention pursues and how it does it, in a way that satisfies its future users. It is possible to develop a theory of change when the objectives and activities of an intervention can be identified and planned in detail in advance. Therefore, in order to measure the social impact based on a consistent theory of change, the latter should be developed consultatively to reflect the understanding of all relevant stakeholders and the planned objectives and activities shall be clearly identified (see also Chapter 2.2). Besides, as a following step, in order to correctly measure an impact, it is crucial to identify indicators capable to monitor the changes expected from the...
