This article is part of the EUObs 1 project whose main objective is to discriminate, define, develop and implement aspects, criteria, and finally, systems to improve the conditions of livability and sustainability (social, economic and environmental) of the urban neighborhoods with symptoms of obsolescence in andalusian and Spanish cities by through indicators of urban sustainability.

There currently are numerous sets of indicators applicable to cities to assess the degree of sustainability. However these systems or indexes are often partial, timeless, hard to obtain or to measure, and are often applied to the scale of the city, without assessing specifically the particularities of each district or its comparability to other areas.

On the other hand, when we talk about the obsolescence of neighbourhoods, we must bear in mind that the term obsolescence is multidimensional and can indicate a lack of quality, functionality and deterioration of the urban environment, failure or absence of a design adapted to facilitate accessibility, failure to take advantage of the possibilities of integrating renewable energies and energy saving, the continuity of polluting emissions, as well as the difficulty of deploying new services and ways of using our cities, etc. But if we define it from an approach based on sustainable development, when we talk about obsolescence we can also refer at the neighbourhood level to characteristics that are sometimes commonplace in our neighbourhoods, not particularly negative, and yet which hinder their transition to a more sustainable city model based on alternative mobility systems and low motorised mobility, energy efficiency, links with the city's supporting ecosystems, efficiency in the management of material resources and waste, generating social cohesion and fostering governance and guaranteeing the quality of life of citizens. In this sense, the repercussions of the term obsolescence in neighbourhoods are worked on from an ecosystemic approach, assessing the characteristics of the neighbourhoods in terms of environmental impact, provision of services or habitability to guarantee socialisation and the development of life in the neighbourhood.

This communication collects four distinct parts. First it is presented a review of the current tools based on indicators of urban sustainability, analyzing them and assessing their contribution to the analysis of neighborhoods in terms of obsolescence. The second part presents the ecosystem approach, analyzing the advantages of the adoption of this approach. Third it is presented the methodology for the definition of types or families of neighborhoods in Andalusia. The measures associated to the diagnostics are defined as urban therapies and conform the fourth section. Finally the creation of a protocol of action in slums is addressed to assess the sustainability and apply the appropiate therapy. This protocol allows to perform accurate assessments of their obsolescence and define the right development strategies.