Street as an inclusive environment: space attributes assessment method at morphological dimension

Abstract

Pedestrian space is the issue addressed by "street evaluation method", which is proposed to analyze how inclusive can the environment be to pedestrians. The analysis framework is based on contributions from Anderson (1981) on sharing spaces and the concept of "sympatry" in the context of urban ecology, as well as Alexander (1965) about the ordinance of urban systems and the concept of complexity associated with ordered overlaps in use and space. In this research attributes related to inclusive spaces were identified permeability, latency, robustness, accessibility, resilience, complexity, sympatry, articulation and vitality. As part of a study case applied in commercial local streets of Brasília, this article presents the analysis of elements referring to morphological dimension such as spatial configuration and settlement pattern concerning to topographic conditions. In order to assess the impacts of commercial blocks settlement in walkable areas, public space was divided into categories such as sidewalks, streets, squares and void spaces. The results showed how different typologies and settlement patterns can interfere in space appropriation. It is expected that the proposed method may contribute to the qualitative assessment tools in the process of inclusive environments planning, favoring the return of pedestrian spaces as basis for social content flourishing.