RECENT DEVELOPMENT AND CHARACTERISTICS OF BRAZILIAN URBAN SYSTEM: A RANK-SIZE ANALYSIS

• Main Authors: Sylvio Carlos Bandeira de Mello e Silva, Barbara-Christine Nentwig Silva, Maina Pirajá Silva
• Format: Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Published: Universidade Federal da Bahia 2012-12-01
• Series: GeoTextos
• Subjects: sistema de cidades; hierarquia urbana; desequilíbrios urbanos; brasil / system of cities; urban hierarchy; urban imbalances; brazil
• Online Access: https://periodicos.ufba.br/index.php/geotextos/article/view/6794

The objective of this study is to contribute in an integrated way, to understand the recent changes in the organization of the dynamic system of Brazilian cities, prioritizing the rank-size of urban centers. This analysis was made for the period 1991-2010. The rank-size relationship in a system of cities has been studied by constructing a graph with logarithmic scale on both axes. The graph shows an imbalance between the 2nd city and the cities that immediately follow the hierarchy until close to a population of 3,000,000 inhabitants. From there, we can say that there is an almost regular basis, especially for the years 2000 and 2010. The rank-size graph has also been produced for all states, classified into three groups: (i) states with extremely unbalanced urban system, (ii) states with unbalanced urban system, (iii) states with little unbalanced urban system. The analysis allows us to state that the system of cities in Brazil has undergone important changes that express, in the urbanized space, the economic and social changes across the country. Indeed, the growing integration of the Brazilian economy and society has been manifested by the tendency to greater regularity (de-concentration) and diversity in the distribution of cities by rank-size.