Urban morphology repertoire for the good living

Cities face social, environmental and infrastructure challenges that interfere with their ability to provide Good Living for the citizens. The Good Living concept originated from the original Andean and Amazonian peoples' Dear Life idea, which holistically establishes the relationship of communities with their territory. Therefore, it is possible to promote more sustainable and healthy management for the city. The present paper discusses the perception categories of physical attributes in the urban public spaces through the Good Living perspective. The analysis was based on the urban elements proposed by Gordon Cullen, Kevin Lynch and Christopher Alexander. Cullen's elements allow the understanding of landscape qualities. Lynch's elements structure spatial legibility. Alexander's elements point to positive patterns of spatial configuration. The analysis considered attributes and relationships among the elements in order to build a matrix arrangement of environment physical scales ─ building, street, block, neighbourhood, city and region ─ and the Good Living qualities. The resulting matrix pointed out overlapping and nterdependent clusters. The identified clusters were 1. Territory Discontinuous Elements; 2. Territory Continuous Elements; 3. Territory Properties; 4. Personal Recognition Elements; and 5. Social Elements. The clusters seem to tend towards Good Living status, moving from static spatial elements to the collectively used territory. The structured outcome of the morphological references contributes to developing a repertoire for urban public spaces design oriented to Good Living. Urban design projects based on this structure bring about more solidary, inclusive, healthy and social relations delivering a relevant tool for the sustainable urban planning process.