Abstract The cities are living a moment of revaluation of the urban design, although in general, continuing to face the transcendence of its merely physical structure. Then, what is being thought to make the city more welcoming and alive in relation to its design? The recent review of the Strategic Master Plan and Land Use and Occupation Act of São Paulo municipality apparently converge to possible solutions that have been addressed by the literature related to the field of Urban Design since its consolidation in the '60s. Therefore, this research aims to elucidate the relationship between the literature and what is being proposed by these reviewed norms. For this purpose, documentary studies of the norm and a literature review related to the theme were carried out, and the method of Systematic Review of Literature (SRL) was applied to survey the scientific production related to urban design. Results have demonstrated a trend towards a growing appreciation of the pedestrian scale within the urban planning process, with emphasis on the correlation between land use, urban mobility and the city human dimension enhancement and these reflect - a certain extent in the presented urban regulation proposals.