Abstract

Urban studies related to sustainability are undergoing a phase of rich experimentation, with the exploration of different methodologies which aim to deal with current and future impacts of climate change in cities. This involves new challenges for the redevelopment of urban areas. Such challenges are especially relevant in times when major urban transformations are occurring in the global south. This article aims to elaborate a methodology to explore and evaluate the sustainable potential of the urban form in neighbourhoods of intermediate scale cities. The methodology addresses six criteria related with sustainability of the built environment: scale, accessibility, diversity, connectivity, density and nodality. This methodology is applied in a neighbourhood in the city of Temuco in southern Chile. The results show the importance of building adaptability to generate diversity of uses, which in turn promotes greater sustainability of the urban form. On the other hand, the over-density of population and housing in residential lots decreases pedestrian accessibility in the interior streets, while vertically mixed use and the variation of densities in urban blocks continues to be the best response to promote social interaction and high collective activity in the urban space. The article concludes on the operational value of the methodology and reflects upon future advances to promote the development of more sustainable urban forms in the intermediate cities of southern Chile.