Entre o urbano e o rural: uma análise da periurbanização na região metropolitana de Natal-RN

Abstract

The studies concerning the urban theme are widely discussed in the Humanities and Social Sciences, leading, as a result, to a variety of analyses. However, what we have observed is that a considerable part of these urban studies have been developed thinking the urbanization as a phenomenon restricted to the perimeters of cities or metropolitan areas demarcated administratively, and not as a process which pervades these political-administrative boundaries and modifies all the relations between what is conventionally called countryside and city. There is the predominance of a dichotomous view between the countryside and the city, which considers the city completely urban and the countryside entirely rural. However, against this vision, there are the peri-urban areas which are designed as those where there is an intense coexistence of rural and urban elements, in addition to the existence of too many conflicts due to the diversity of activities present in these locations. In this perspective, the present research aims to understand the peri-urbanization in the Metropolitan Region of Natal (MRN), located in the State of Rio Grande do Norte - Brazil, identifying their areas of occurrence, highlighting their peculiarities, as well as their causes and consequences. For this, besides the bibliographical review, it was conducted an analysis of satellite images from the MRN along with the data on the situation of the census sectors of the information base of the Demographic Census of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics – IBGE (2011). In addition, it was performed some field work on the MRN with interviews and questionnaires to the residents in order to examine the strategies of use and occupation of the soil, discuss how the capital has reproduced itself and investigate the consequences of the peri-urbanization, considering the allocation of the infrastructure and public services in these areas. As a result, we noticed that the areas of consolidated urbanization of the MRN have a higher development level while in rural areas the level is lower, and in the peri-urban areas the level is intermediate compared to the rural and urban areas. Finally, it is concluded that this whole process of analysis of the peri-urban areas of the MRN was extremely important to the Urban Planning since it highlights the necessity for urban development beyond the consolidated urban area and which gets to the peri-urban and rural areas in a equal and proper way to the social reality of the place, searching for a beneficial integration between both areas and braking the rapid urban expansion which sterilizes the diversity of spaces.