Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a well-established consultancy instrument applied worldwide to evaluate the likely environmental consequences of proposed development projects before decisions are made. Despite decades of regulatory development, EIA practice in peri-urban and transitional land-use contexts often suffers from methodological inconsistencies, stakeholder disengagement, and inadequate post-project monitoring. This review synthesises the current state of EIA consultancy practice with a focus on peri-urban land-use planning, drawing on published studies from Europe, South America, and Southeast Asia. Key procedural steps — scoping, baseline characterisation, impact prediction, mitigation hierarchy application, and monitoring — are discussed in relation to their practical implementation by environmental consultancy firms. The review identifies persistent challenges, including the underrepresentation of cumulative and indirect impacts, limited use of geographic information systems (GIS) for spatial analysis, and weak institutional feedback mechanisms. Best-practice recommendations are proposed to improve the effectiveness of EIA as a planning support tool for local and regional authorities.
