THE conurbation is a typical phenomenon of urbanized areas where there are cities with a high rate of urban growth. In short, it's about the joining one municipality with another, which occurs when these areas grow horizontally and expand their spaces of influence beyond municipal boundaries.
Due to the expansion of cities, these limits practically disappear, forming, in many cases, areas in which it is almost impossible to know where one city ends and where another begins, being quite common in populous, large areas capitals and also in medium-sized cities in the interior that are geographically close to each other.
Read too: What is urbanization?
conurbation process
THE urbanization is when the urban environment grows more than the rural environment. This occurs, mainly, with the departure of the population from the countryside to the city, which we call rural exodus. Furthermore, factors such as the industrialization of cities, the presence of transnational corporations and better employment opportunities in urban areas can contribute to the intensification of urbanization.
Generally, urbanization is linked to changing the life of a society. As an example, we mention the brazilian urbanization. At the end of the 19th century, our society was agrarian and rural, with the majority of the population living in the countryside, and the economic base was coffee. With the advent of industry in the 20th century, more precisely after 1930, Brazilian society gradually became urban (after 1960) and industrial.
There is also, in the expansion of cities, the urban growth. This can occur without urbanization, as many rural areas expand in the same proportion as cities due to the importance of the primary sector (agriculture and livestock) in our lives. urban growth can occur vertically, with the construction of buildings, and horizontally, with the emergence of suburbs and peripheries.
When a city grows horizontally, in the long term, the tendency is for this growth to reach neighboring cities. These, which can also grow horizontally, begin to be closer to each other, and can generate pendular migrations, in which an inhabitant works in one city but lives in another.
Therefore, when the horizontal growths of cities meet, there are conurbation, generating a large urban area, contiguous and in which, in many cases, one city is confused with the other.
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Metropolitan region
At metropolitan regions usually arise from conurbated areas, being defined as a set of municipalities that are physically and socioeconomically integrated. Generally speaking, a metropolitan region is composed of a large city, the metropolis, and other adjacent municipalities, which may conurb with the metropolis and with each other.
One metropolis it is defined on the basis of two main criteria: they are populous cities that concentrate the region's main industries, commerce and services. Thus, the surrounding municipalities that use these services for survival and that are influenced by the metropolis belong to the metropolitan region of that city.
According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), metropolitan regions are groups of municipalities that border each other, being established by complementary state laws, according to the 25th article of the Federal Constitution of 1988, that is, it is not enough for municipalities to be integrated at various levels, it is also necessary, one state law that gives the go-ahead for the existence of a metropolitan region.
Read too: Five biggest Brazilian metropolises
Examples of metropolitan region in Brazil
In Brazil, according to the last IBGE census, which took place in 2010, there are 36 metropolitan regions (MRs) spread across the country. They are distributed as follows in relation to regions of the country:
Northeast region: 12 RMs;
South region: 12 RMs;
Southeast region: 7 RMs;
North region: 3 RMs;
Midwest region: 2 RMs.
Despite having fewer metropolitan regions, the Southeast region is home to the three largest MRs in the country: São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte. Together, the three house more than 35 million people, approximately 15% of the Brazilian population.
Conurbation in Brazil: examples
Most of the Brazilian metropolitan regions have conurbated areas. The three largest MRs in the country, which are in the Southeast Region, have municipalities in conurbation with the main metropolis.
THE Sao Paulo City, the largest in the country and, consequently, with the largest MR in Brazil, is in conurbation with almost all the municipalities that make up its metropolitan region. This region is quite extensive, with 39 municipalities divided into five sub-regions: north, east, southeast, west and southwest.
Another example that we can mention, although smaller than the RM of São Paulo, is in the city of Goiania, capital of Goiás. The RM Goiás is home to 19 municipalities plus the capital, with emphasis on the cities of Aparecida de Goiânia, Trindade and Senador Canedo. Along with Goiânia, these four municipalities concentrate 90% of the entire population of this region.
Conurbation consequences
With the process of growth and joining of cities, conurbated areas become increasingly frequent in large urban agglomerations. This junction can have positive sides, as the services provided in one city can reverberate in the other, in addition to employment, education, health and leisure that can be shared by the inhabitants of the conurbated areas.
There are also the pendular migrations, in which an inhabitant lives in one city, works in the other and enjoys the leisure of a third party municipality, for example, making the economy go round and contributing to social and economic area.
However, conurbated areas can also bring negative points. Locations where it is almost impossible to recognize the limits of one city in relation to another can generate neglect on the part of public policies. As an example, a street where, on one side, is a city and, on the other side, another city can generate a conflict between city halls for the provision of basic services, such as garbage collection and paving of streets.
One city hall puts the responsibility on the other and, therefore, the population suffers from the absence of the service. In addition, tax collection can also generate barriers between municipalities in relation to companies located in neighboring areas.
Read too: city and município: what's the difference?
solved exercises
Question 1 - (IFSP)
Read the text below and then tick the alternative that correctly fills the gap.
“____________________ is the unification of the urban fabric of two or more cities, as a result of their geographic growth. Usually this process gives rise to the formation of metropolitan regions.”
Source: Aurélio Dictionary, PubliFolha, 1995.
a) Megacity
b) Deruralization
c) Conurbation
d) Urbanization
e) Metropolis.
Resolution:
Letter C. A conurbation is the joining of two or more cities, which can give rise to a metropolitan region.
_____________________
Question 2 - (Unirv)
The word “city” is often used to mean very different realities, even the more or less abandoned qualitative ones. that accompany this expression are also too numerous for us to recognize under the same word the same realities
(SAINTS, M. The Geographer's Work in the Third World. São Paulo: EDUSP, 2009).
Taking into account the information inherent to the city, tick V (true) or F (false) for the statements:
a) Urban socio-spatial segregation refers to the process of social separation and marginalization that has been taking place in cities due to the rapid urban expansion that they have been showing in recent years. decades. This causes low-income populations to concentrate in peripheral areas, isolating themselves from the city, which causes a differentiation and social division of the city's space.
b) In Brazil, every seat of municipality is considered a city, thus adopting a purely administrative criterion, regardless of the number of inhabitants. According to the IBGE, there are more than 5,500 cities in Brazil. The biggest Brazilian cities are: São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Brasília and Fortaleza.
c) The modern industrial city is associated with a level of complexity in human organization, characterized by mass education, fluid class systems, and tremendous technological advancement using new sources of energy. The phenomenon of conurbation, which is not yet common in Brazil, forms metropolitan regions, involving only the large state capitals, such as São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte and Salvador.
d) The first cities, such as Ur and Babylon, emerged in Mesopotamia, in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, in present-day Iraq. It is believed that around 2500 BC. C., Ur arrived to have 50 thousand inhabitants and, Babylon, 80 thousand. The first cities emerged associated with rivers due to the need for fertile land and irrigation for the production of surplus food to supply them.
Resolution:
The only false alternative is the letter C, the others being therefore true. Conurbation is a very common process in Brazil and may involve capitals and other cities in the interior, so this alternative is not correct.
By Attila Matthias
Geography teacher
