Article:

The article presents the assessment method for large (horizontally spread) urbaninvestment and its visual impact on the cityscape using digital analyses. Thevisual impact assessment is often used in relation to facilities which dominate inthe cityscape, mainly tall buildings. Various studies, however, examine the impactof wide but relatively low-rising buildings and their impact on the cityscape. Thearticle presents a methodology for the assessment of the visual impact and a casestudy for a building facility comprising several tightly developed and mediumheight blocks of buildings in a city center of a significant historical value inGdańsk, Poland. The research has been based on the Visual Impact Size method(VIS) and a city model consisting of a regular cloud of points (Digital SurfaceModel). The simulation has been developed using a dedicated C++ software(developed by author). The study aimed at assessing the following: a) to whatdegree such an urban investment can influence the cityscape; b) how the impactcan be analyzed using digital techniques, and c) what input parameters of theanalysis are crucial for satisfactory accuracy of its results.