"The Public Attitude" on Visual Impact Assessment of the Chao Phraya River Waterfront Redevelopment Project in Bangkok, Thailand

Abstract

The waterfront areas, often counted as one of the city portraits, are invaluable assets in several countries. They play parts in defining the characteristics of the city and determining the quality of local inhabitants. Their significant roles have led to attempts to develop the areas in vicinity of the river. Several developments projects, largely long-term and national projects involving a number of stakeholders, have taken place with different goals and methods. Oftentimes, governments, policy makers, developers and designers are responsible for designing and realizing the project. However, prior to commencing the project, they would only conduct satisfaction surveys or research into functional usages and designs. Benefits and impacts are also assessed but there have not been many researches covering the topic of possible affected visual quality. As a result, the research main aim is to assess the attitude from publics towards visual impacts of the waterfront development project on tentative users. The research put an emphasis on the case of Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River. The evaluation of the visual impacts and other underlying impacts will be made.

The findings reveal that the new promenade redevelopment may have negative visual impacts on all cultural public nodes. The magnitude of impact depends on areas. From analysis, the most influential factors are the existing appearance, the values of places, the height and scale of the new promenade structure.

In this study, the outcomes of the research may be applied as guidelines or considerations to help finding solutions for visual impacts caused by the redevelopment project. The findings will also be beneficial for further phases of the riverfront development in Bangkok, and for further researches in the future.