Socio-spatial formation and urban-regional dynamics in Rio Grande do Norte State: the place of the Metropolitan Region of Natal

• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Editora Universitária Champagnat 2009-12-01
• Series: Urbe : Revista Brasileira de Gestão Urbana
• Subjects: Socio-spatial formation; Rio Grande do Norte; Urbanization; Regionalization
• Online Access: http://www2.pucpr.br/reol/index.php/URBE?dd1=3413&dd99=view

Adopting the category of socio-spatial formation (Milton Santos), a study about the relationship between space and society in the course of history of the development of Rio Grande do Norte was undertaken, with the overall aim of identifying socio-economic, demographic and spatial links, that represent the different urban-regional dynamics of the state, and also with the specific aim of giving the metropolitan area of Natal its rightful place, as the structuring core of these dynamics. In this search, thought was given to the analysis of the profile of urbanization, which does not only show some characteristics of the urban network of the state evolution, which make it possible to glimpse the outline of its regionalization. In conclusion, we can observe, among other aspects, the sharp contrast between the technical-economic status in recent decades, and the precarious conditions in which large parts of the society live, what is spatially represented in a weak territorial division of labor in an unbalanced urban network, supported by a very small number of cities.