Padrões de integração territorial na Região Metropolitana de São José do Rio Preto

Abstract

São José do Rio Preto, a city of 480,000 inhabitants in the interior of São Paulo, is the seat of the newly created Metropolitan Region comprising 37 municipalities whose main economic activity is sugarcane agroindustry, and which depend heavily on the hub city in all areas of the economy. There is regional inequality in development and population growth: while the hub city and its surroundings have seen significant population gains, more distant cities have suffered a decline in population. The phenomenon of urban expansion in São José do Rio Preto has been considered dispersed and exclusionary since the last decades of the 20th century, and, according to more recent studies, continues to occur in the same way. This research is dedicated to a study on a local scale, focused on the urban structure of the hub city and its surroundings, and on a regional scale, bringing up contemporary issues such as the new dynamics imposed by the creation of the Metropolitan Region of São José do Rio Preto, taking it as a case study. On a regional scale, the results point to the expansion of sugarcane cultivation as an important factor in changes in environmental, economic, and urban dynamics, promoting a decline in productive diversity and in the capacity of municipalities to offer jobs and services that meet the needs of their inhabitants. The municipalities were grouped according to patterns based on their degree of regional integration, demonstrating that distance, rural productive diversity, the presence of manufacturing industry, and social housing are important factors for the development of small municipalities. The dependence of municipalities on the hub city establishes a significant pendulum effect in an extensive migration zone, resulting in dispersed urbanization in the region. At the local level, the results show sprawling occupation, with the creation of urban voids; urban fragments in rural areas; and socio-spatial segregation in the municipality and its neighbors. The appreciation of land in the process of urban expansion in Rio Preto and neighboring cities was evident, as was the movement to increase the value of already consolidated subdivisions, where vacant lots or remaining plots are the subject of real estate speculation. Faced with a scenario of a territory taken over by the advance of sugarcane cultivation and the installation of sugar and alcohol mills, the fight against regional inequality must seek innovative strategies, identifying potential economic activities that can bring development to small municipalities.