O comércio de confecções em União dos Palmares-AL á luz da teoria dos circuitos da economia urbana

Abstract

The theoretical proposal of the two circuits of the urban economy was presented by Milton Santos in the 1970s, constituting a reference in the studies about the urbanization of peripheral countries and their specificities. The upper circuit is formed by banks, export industry, trade and modern services and wholesalers. The lower circuit consists of small-scale trade, services and manufacturing forms with reduced capital and little technology. In this work, the objective is to understand the trade of confections in União dos Palmares in the light of the circuitry theory of the urban economy. In this perspective, we initially evidence the sociospatial and urbanization process of União dos Palmares, as well as elements from your economy and urban-regional centrality. In the sequence we identify the main updates of the theory and the forms of manifestation of the circuits of the urban economy in União dos Palmares; we characterize the clothing trade considering the training, the agents involved and the dynamics of organization and functioning, and finally, we analyze the clothing trade considering the characteristics of the circuits of the urban economy. The methodological approach adopted is based on bibliographical and historiographic research, aiming at the construction of the theoretical foundation on the formation and urbanization of the União dos Palmares, relations among commerce and city and the two circuits of the urban economy. Documentary research, together with government agencies, addressed the information needs related to the economy, population, income, gross domestic product, Gini index, and etc. The field work occurred, preliminary, through interviews with older merchants of the city, who work in the garment segment, with a view to obtaining information about the process of constituting this trade. We apply forms with owners, employees and customers of the stores in order to understand the main elements of day to day in the perspective of operation, organization, technological resources used and ways of acting of the agents involved. From the theory of the circuits of the urban economy it was possible to analyze the main characteristics of the clothing trade, which was formed in the context of the urbanization process of União dos Palmares, from the 1970s. The bureaucratized organization, the small capital and the little technology used allow to recognize this activity as of the inferior circuit of the urban economy. Since 2005, the clothing trade has been very dynamic, due to the growth in the number of stores, with diversity of products and prices. In União dos Palmares, the clothing trade integrates a logic dedicated at meeting the consumption demands of the local population and the neighboring municipalities.