Sustainability assessment of Camobi District, Santa Maria, RS

Abstract

The accelerated increase in demographic density led to excessive and disorganized growth of cities from the decade of 1950, generating urban problems noticeable until current days. In response, new sustainable urban design methods emerged. This article presents an evaluation of the Camobi neighborhood in Santa Maria, RS, under the perspective of sustainable urbanism. The neighborhood has typical characteristics of suburban areas of Brazilian cities. The purpose of this analysis is to recognize the potentialities and weaknesses of the neighborhood, enabling the creation of guidelines to make it more attractive to people. The methodology used sought to characterize the neighborhood through instruments and parameters that address different factors: site analysis, neighborhood completeness, pedestrian permeability, user preferences, and form. The main conclusion is the inadequacy of the neighborhood to the needs of pedestrians especially about street furniture, infrastructure of walks and connections. The results presented may help in the planning of new suburban neighborhoods in Brazilian cities, as well as in the proposition of strategies to improve existing neighborhoods.