Aims. We study galaxy clustering and explore the dependence of galaxy properties on the the environment up to a redshift z ? 1, on the basis of a deep multi-band survey in the Chandra Deep Field South. Methods. We have developed a new method which combines galaxy angular positions and photometric redshifts to estimate the local galaxy number-density. This allows both the detection of overdensities in the galaxy distribution and the study of the properties of the galaxy population as a function of the environmental density. Results. We detect two moderate overdensities at z ? 0.7 and z ? 1 previously identified spectroscopically. We find that the fraction of red galaxies within each structure increases with volume density, extending to z ? 1 previous results. We measure “red sequence” slopes consistent with the values found in X-ray selected clusters, supporting the notion that the mass-metallicity relation hold constant up to z ? 1. Conclusions. Our method based on photometric redshifts allows to extend structure detection and density estimates up to the limits of photometric surveys, i.e. considerably deeper than spectroscopic surveys. Since X-ray cluster detection at high redshift is presently limited to massive relaxed structures, galaxy volume density based on photometric redshift appears as a valuable tool in the study of galaxy evolution. Key words. galaxies: clusters: general – galaxies: evolution – galaxies: formation – galaxies: distances and redshifts – cosmology: large-scale structure of Universe