Urban-regional dimension in contemporary metropolization

Abstract

The contemporary stage of Latin American metropolization, supported by new information and communication technologies, makes evidence spatial configurations that transcend the concept of urban or urban agglomerate and incorporate the regional dimension, as hybrid categories. They are morpholically dense and discontinous, they have a high rate of economic and institutional polarization, a they show a confluence fluxes and a overlay of scales. Based on analysis of this process in Brazil and on the identification of what was denominated "urban-regional arrangements̀, this paper explores their nature, characteristics, and role in the country's insertion in the social division of labor. It also suggests possible configurations of this same type in other countries of Latin America.

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