ABSTRACT
Open space, especially before the variety and diversity of the built environment, seems to be the most identifiable and distinctive approach towards an efficient and reliable guaranty to control metropolitan sprawl. Act-ing at different levels of planning and design, as well as crisscrossing various fields from landscape to urban, from environmental to societal sciences, from heavy infrastructures to intangible flows, the open space system may provide high quality places accessible to all. The links between morphological evolution and the main urban models used in the planning process are pinpointed, giving evidence of to the role of open space in the process of land transformation. Chelas was specifically addressed for its key role in various levels of planning and design. This paper examines the final results of a research conducted at the Faculty of Architecture, University of Lisbon and at the School of Architecture in Barcelona (ESTAB-UPC), funded by the FCT.
