Exploring roofscapes and viewscapes in the world heritage city of Valletta : a six-year change LiDAR-based study

Abstract

Alterations in roofscapes of historic urban landscapes has long been the subject of intense discussions regarding their continuity and integrity within the historic fabric and skyline. In recent decades, more attention is being given to monitoring these alterations and to the development of strategies that aim at long term planning intended to respect the character of such historic environments. Emerging technologies may offer new opportunities to facilitate the documentation and monitoring of change to the roofscapes of such settings. LiDAR is one such tool, the applicability of which to monitoring historic roofscapes is relatively unexplored. The focus of this study is to explore the usefulness and suitability of LiDAR technology to monitor change in roofscapes and viewscapes, using the case of the World Heritage City of Valletta. Using LiDAR data and software, various types of analysis were carried out on select cases within the World Heritage Site and on select vistas in localities where the risk of impacts affecting the skyline of the Valletta World Heritage Site were highest. From the study, it was found that LiDAR data’s values correlated with those calculated from the architectural drawings where available, although there were some discrepancies between the values of the two systems. It is concluded that LiDAR data should ideally be used in conjunction with other tools and media as a way of complementing and confirming observations based on other sources of evidence, as each of these systems has its own strengths, weaknesses, and blind spots.