CIDADES MÉDIAS, GESTÃO PÚBLICA TERRITORIAL E CENTRALIDADES REGIONAIS NO RIO GRANDE DO SUL – BRASIL

Abstract

The spatial relations of medium-sized cities in regional contexts and within the urban networks in which these cities are inserted are addressed, focusing on the importance of the territorial management of these cities in regional development processes. It analyzes the role of public territorial management that these cities play in the territory through the provision of federal and state public services. The simultaneous supply by the medium-sized cities and the regional demand for public services create a certain space of flows in the region arising from the operation of existing federal and state public services. These flows make it possible to understand the centrality that these cities exert in the region, the spatial configuration, the different patterns of territorial distribution and relational intensity arising from the supply of and demand for state and federal public services in the regions. Methodologically, we used secondary data from IBGE and GEOPORTAL-RS on the urban network and public land management of selected medium-sized cities in certain functional planning regions in Rio Grande do Sul. Thematic and flow maps were also drawn up to better capture the spatial configuration of these flows of supply and demand for services, the spatial distribution of selected federal and state public institutions and offices, and the dynamics of relations between the selected cities and their regions of influence. The results obtained reinforce the regional importance of medium-sized cities in their public management function, not only on a local scale, but also on a regional scale, enabling greater territorial cohesion, as well as demonstrating the centrality that these cities play in the regional urban network.