Metropolização em cidades médias: apontamentos a partir da região geográfica intermediária de Montes Claros/MG

Abstract

Metropolization is understood as a product of the transformations of contemporary urbanization, marked by the transition from the industrial urban to the tertiary urban, which deconcentrates and provides such a process in different spaces, including those not metropolized (medium cities, local centres, rural espaces). Reflecting and understanding this dynamics of contemporary urbanization is fundamental, because it is from it that the metropolization of space materializes. In this juncture, we have the medium city of Montes Claros/MG located in Montes Claros Intermediate Geographical Region. In this region several spatial interactions can be observed that point to an ongoing process of metropolization. In the institutional perspective, there is the Projeto de Lei Complementar - PLC 11/2015 that disposes about the creation of the Metropolitan Region of Montes Claros - RMMOC. Based on this, this research analyzes the ongoing metropolization process in the Montes Claros Intermediate Geographic Region from the spatial interactions and the project to create RMMOC. Consequently, the specific objectives are: a) reflect on the process of metropolization that is consolidated in contemporary urbanization focusing on medium-sized cities. b) diagnose spatial interactions in the Montes Claros Intermediate Geographic Region c) approach the perspective of agents who integrate the project for the creation of RMMOC. The methodology applied to this study consists of quali- quantitative procedures, since this research is based on the collection and analysis of statistical, cartographic and interview data, in order to understand the spatial and political phenomena, through actors, of the regional dynamics and the processes that lead to the debate of metropolization in the region. In the Montes Claros Intermediate Geographical Region, the ongoing process of metropolization is noted through the interactions observed through the road system, the daily population displacements, the collective road transport system and the regionalization of the health sector. The proposal for the creation of RMMOC reveals the institutional perspective and is focused on planning and regional management. However, there are gaps in the structuring of the project and in the participation of managers that may compromise its operation. Moreover, the metropolization debate in this region involves both governmental political issues and technical and scientific factors. These elements, together with the intense spatial interactions in the analyzed region confirm the existence of the ongoing metropolization process.