O rural e o urbano nos processos de regionalização com vistas à análise e ao planejamento do desenvolvimento territorial

Abstract

I have four goals in writing this paper. First, I present the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (MAUP) and show the inconsistence of statistics generated through inconsistent system of regions. We propose to overcome MAUP in three ways: (a) recognizing that the largest urban centers are outliers and must be researched alone, once they distort the frequency distributions of municipal variables; (b) identifying the internal homogeneity of regions from the analysis of the productive structure and specialization of distinct territories; (c) identifying the poles of each homogeneous region based on their ability to meet the demands from the peripheral municipalities. The third goal is to prove that the “metropolitan region”—identified to the urban system that polarizes the whole set of regions—must be identified using the same theoretical criteria, and not by empirical or institutional determinations. Finally, we try to prove that our statements and methodological proposals for regional division are perfectly consistent with another traditional criterion: the criterion of endogenous development. Nevertheless, this consistence is hardly recognized, once it presupposes to refuse Say’s Law and to accept the effective demand principle is valid in long run.