Balancing Cultural Heritage Conservation: Visual Integrity Assessment to Support Change Management in the Buffer Zone of Chiang Mai Historic City Using GIS and Computer-Generated 3D Modeling

The cultural landscape of Chiang Mai city, which is characterized by the interlinkage between mountain and historical settlement, has faced adverse impacts visual intrusion in its buffer zone from urbanization. However, there are challenges to creating a quantitative evaluation for decision making response rapid urban change. This study evaluated impact building height on city skyline utilized existing heritage locations define protected while conducting 3D-GIS-based visibility analysis identify obstruction three scenarios: actual condition scenario (ACS) considering current conditions, land use (LUS) ordinance, proposed (PPS) protection, using computer-generated 3D modeling. comparative results viewshed, line sight, development area calculations revealed that number obstructed LUS decreased 48.46%, PPS, they 77.99%, increased similar amounts, demonstrating can grow develop despite stricter controls. In addition, based assessment, this established distance intensity protect integrity allowing develop.