Environmental tools to design urban spaces: are they effective?

This research examines the nature of environmental tools used in the design of urban spaces. The goal is to identify whether architects transfer the existing environmental tools to practice, to real projects and the perception of these. The analysis draws on interviews with practitioners in the urban planning field. The interviews sought to understand how feasible and transferable to the practice environmental tools are. Key concepts, theories and methods from architectural and urban environmental design were consulted and summarized in a matrix, compiling the most important variables concerning the environmental quality in urban spaces. These parameters were presented in a matrix to the interviewees for consideration. Presumably, the use of environmental tools such as guidelines and parameters improve environmental performance in architectural design. But are architects using these tools? How effective and likely are they to be translated into design? What are the reasons for the use or lack of use of environmental tools?