Research Projects

Chiang Mai is the largest city in northern Thailand and a popular tourist destination for around 7 million tourists a year. The number of visitors, especially from China, is steadily increasing and has tripled between 2007 and 2017. In response to rising demand, the range of hotels on offer is constantly being expanded and is concentrated geographically primarily in city districts with a high level of architectural heritage.

The resulting high urban development dynamics are changing the traditional socio-economic structures in these districts. At the same time, large sections of the local population and the municipal administration are uncertain about how to deal with the effects of this dynamic development on the material and immaterial cultural heritage in the affected neighbourhoods. In the past, this has resulted in a decline in the quality of urban life, due among other things to heavy air pollution, high traffic volumes and poorly integrated energy supply systems. Historic buildings in particular are barely able to meet the new requirements. A lack of trust between the actors, a lack of process knowledge and the non-involvement of key interest groups in the neighbourhoods also mean that urban development planning does not currently meet the objectives of sustainable and future-oriented urban development.

Together with the Fraunhofer IMW, Leipzig and the School of Public Policy (SPP) of the University of Chiang Mai (CMU), a concept is being developed to facilitate integrated urban development in historic districts. The concept takes into account modernization and long-term security of use of the existing buildings through integrated energy systems and redevelopment. A systematic identification, adaptation, transfer and embedding of knowledge from regional and international contexts form the basis of the joint research work. In addition to the CMU, both local and regional actors are involved in urban development.The aim of the partners is long-term cooperation within the framework of pilot and demonstration projects in the subsequent research phase from 2021 onwards.

The design of these projects offers the possibility of applying and further developing the concept developed in the definition phase, which optimises the adaptability of solutions and increases the probability of long-term successful development of the market segment "Asian secondary cities".