La imagen urbana como instrumento para la lectura arquitectónica contemporánea del Barrio Urdesa de Guayaquil

The urban image is characterized by being the distinctive symbol of a city that seeks to generate an identity and autonomy in its reading process to denote traditions and customs from the perspective of the architectural compositional elements that make up traditional buildings and their evolution towards a contemporary stage that enhances the typological conditions of both homes and businesses in the Urdesa neighborhood of Guayaquil, Ecuador. This study seeks to describe the urban image of this traditional neighborhood of Guayaquil based on a historical analysis using architectural housing evaluation techniques to show the changes in the urban image of housing defined in the formal buildable aspect, relationship with public space and design influence with natural spaces to determine how these indicators have complemented the structure of the urban image, emulating a timeline analysis of the original development to the transformationism of 21st century Urdesa, to be exposed in a photographic memory of architecture denoting the traditional aspects still preserved. This booming contemporary architecture still preserves the urban image of Urdesa. The results were strategies that contribute to revitalizing Urdesa's indigenous image as a traditional neighborhood in Guayaquil, which has a deep-rooted natural, constructivist, and functional connection with the coastal area.