Qualidade do espaço urbano na Praça da Liberdade, São Paulo

Abstract

Five parameters that delineate urban quality and were developed by Ewing and Bartholomew, US researchers, are presented: imaginability, enclosure, human scale, transparency and complexity. They can be applied to study spaces in the city of São Paulo, in parts of traditional urban fabric and in particular in the central area. The parameters developed by the referred researchers adapt to resolved cities, that want to improve the pedestrian experience in urbanized and pleasant areas. In São Paulo, one possible place to apply Ewing and Bartholomew principles is Praça da Liberdade and Galvão Bueno Street, which are an integrated and exceptional space in the city. The place has very active trade, attractive fair of oriental foods and buildings with high degree of symbolic and historical references. From the study of this fragment, by field visits and photographic report, the real interest of the five elements highlighted by Ewing and Bartholomew was verified as able to measure aspects of urban space quality.