The formation of macrometropolis in Brazil: Urbanization process and the construction of a victorious region

Abstract

The main aim of the current study is to investigate the formation of Sao Paulo Macrometropolis (MMP-Macrometropole Paulista) through an urbanization process based on the origins of urban dispersion in Sao Paulo State. The object of the analysis lies on planning actions aimed at promoting urban dispersion from the 1910s to the 1980s, with emphasis on actions that turned the MMP into a privileged industrialization space. The herein adopted methodology focused on investigating the urban, cultural, social and historical aspects of MMP's formation to help better understanding it at state and national scale, based on theoretical references of regional development and on the idea of a victorious region (BENKO; LIPIETZ, 1992). Conclusions point out to the definition of MMP as a productive competitiveness area defined by economic criteria that consolidate it as a successful core inserted in a broader, conflictive, culturally and socially complex region.