Gomes, Rogério
_Abstract: Industrialization originated new socio-environmental problems in the city. Thus, during the XIXth and XXthcenturies, urban thinking devised hygienist solutions with the idea of configuring an urban model. From the 1960s onwards, due to the enormous changes, there was a growth of environmental concerns and,searching an alternate model, the birth of the idea of sustainable development.In the face of growing awareness about climate changes and environmentalproblems, ecological concerns came to the forefront and urban ecology became an area of interest and approach through various disciplines, includingthe physical design of urban structures.
In search of an urbanism of response to sustainable development at a locallevel, during the 1990s, eco-neighborhood comes to life as a pilot project of practical response to the concerns and thought developed till then. NorthernEuropean countries are pioneers in its making.
Thus, eco-neighborhoods are analyzed, in this text, both as case studies and as historical references for good urban design in answer to environmentalsustainability. With this analysis and elements drawn from history and urbanecology, we present guiding principles for good urban design that, after aconfrontation with urban forms, are reflected in an operative model.