The municipality of Baía Formosa, located in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, presents socio-environmental problems and conflicts linked to the use of its natural resources. The diverse use of each portion of the territory by different agents, especially in the last decade, highlights changes, impacts and conflicts in this area. Given this context, the present research aims to develop a participatory mapping of the municipality, highlighting potentialities and problems/limitations, through reading the landscape and the diverse use of natural resources present in the territory. To this end, three groups are the focus of this analysis as groups participating in the study: agents representing the urban headquarters and the Pituba and Vila da Usina districts; the Sagi Jacu indigenous community, and the representative group of fishermen. As for the theoretical-methodological contribution, the research has as its main bases the Geoecology of Landscapes and Social Cartography, where authors such as Farias (2012, 2015), Rodriguez and Silva (2018), Acselrad and Coli (2008), Gorayeb, Meireles stand out. and Silva (2015), Costa (2016, 2021), among others. In methodological terms, the study is based on four phases inherent to the Geoecology of Landscapes, which were adapted for the research, they are: organization and inventory phase, analysis phase, diagnosis phase, and propositional phase, which occur aligned to the triad of Social Cartography: investigation-action-participation. As a result, social participatory mapping of the urban headquarters of the municipality was carried out, as well as the Pituba district, Sagi, Vila da Usina and Sagi Jacu village, all with an emphasis on the potentialities and problems identified in the localities, in addition to the collective elaboration of proposals for mitigation and better uses of natural resources. Furthermore, a social fishing map was produced, highlighting this traditional activity that marks the history of the municipality. In this way, the participatory mapping of Baía Formosa is not just a technical tool, but rather a process that promotes the connection between the community and its territory, scientific knowledge and traditional knowledge. Therefore, it is expected that the analyzes and products arising from the research can help the municipality to understand and invest in its potential, respecting its limitations, mitigating problems and conflicts, with the aim of achieving a relationship between human activities and the support capacity of the environment. more harmonious and compatible with local reality.

O município de Baía Formosa, localizado no estado do Rio Grande do Norte, apresenta problemas socioambientais e conflitos ligados ao uso dos seus recursos naturais. A utilização diversa de cada porção do território por diferentes agentes, especialmente na última década, ressalta mudanças, impactos e conflitos nessa área. Diante desse contexto, a presente pesquisa tem como objetivo elaborar o mapeamento participativo do município, ressaltando potencialidades e problemas/limitações, por meio da leitura da paisagem e do uso diverso dos recursos naturais presentes no território. Para isso, três núcleos são focos nesta análise enquanto grupos participantes do estudo: agentes representativos da sede urbana e dos distritos Pituba e Vila da Usina; a comunidade indígena Sagi Jacu, e o núcleo representativo de pescadores. Quanto ao aporte téorico-metodologico, a pesquisa tem como bases principais a Geoecologia das Paisagens e Cartografia Social, onde se destacam autores como Farias (2012, 2015), Rodriguez e Silva (2018), Acselrad e Coli (2008), Gorayeb, Meireles e Silva (2015), Costa (2016, 2021), entre outros. Em termos metodológicos, o estudo se pauta em quatro fases inerentes à Geoecologia das Paisagens, que foram adaptadas para a pesquisa, são elas: fase de organização e inventário, fase de análise, fase de diagnóstico, e fase propositiva, as quais, ocorrem alinhadas à tríade da Cartografia Social: investigação-ação-participação. Como resultado, foi realizado o mapeamento participativo social da sede urbana do município, assim como, do distrito Pituba, Sagi, Vila da Usina e aldeia Sagi Jacu, todos com ênfase nas potencialidades e problemas identificados nas localidades, além da elaboração coletiva de propostas de mitigação e melhores usos dos recursos naturais. Ademais, foi produzido um mapa social de pesca, ressaltando essa atividade tradicional que marca a história de município. Desse modo, o mapeamento participativo de Baía Formosa não se apresenta apenas como uma ferramenta técnica, mas sim, um processo que promove a conexão entre a comunidade e seu território, conhecimento científico e os saberes tradicionais. Portanto, espera-se que as análises e produtos advindos da pesquisa possam auxiliar o município, a compreender e investir em suas potencialidades respeitando suas limitações, mitigando problemas e conflitos, com o fim de conquistar uma relação entre atividades humanas e capacidade de suporte do meio mais harmônica e compatível com a realidade local.

This research focuses on the theme of Peripheral Geographical Thought, using Euclides' work as a reference for analysis. With Brazil's independence in 1822, the need arose for a nationalist sentiment that would justify the idea of the new nation-state and would be responsible for generating elements that would shape a certain kind of Brazilianness. Along these lines, several intellectuals, known as "citizen-writers" took it upon themselves to provide an interpretation about the formation of the society and the territory, pointing out the national identity. Euclides da Cunha's books Os Sertões and À Margem da História stand out among many authors and literary works of the period, as they were responsible for generating a perspective of historical and geographical knowledge, as well as providing a reading of Brazil from the point of view of its territory and its differentiations. At the same time, we understood that these writings contain knowledge centred on a significant spatial dimension. From these observations, we draw attention to the central question of this research: to what extent did the spatial dimension present in Euclides da Cunha enable the construction of a Peripheral Geographical Thought in Brazil? Based on this guiding question, the main objective is to analyse how the spatial dimension in literature enabled the construction of a Peripheral Geographical Thought in Brazil, specifically in Euclides da Cunha's works. The methodological procedures used were based mainly on bibliographical and documentary research. In this process, we also highlight that the analysis of the works Os Sertões and À Margem da Histórica took as its interpretative path the "elements of comprehension" pointed out by Cândido (2000; 2006), which consist of an in-depth study of aspects relating to external factors, the author and, finally, the work. As a result of this research, it was observed that the writer discoursed profusely on elements that permeated the territorial formation of Brazil from two central regions, the northeastern Sertão and the Amazon Rainforest, represented respectively by Canudos and Alto Purus, as well as contemplating a vision of the territorial formation of Brazil. From this perspective, it was realised that there was a profound disparity between the northern and southern regions, which permeated the social, economic, and geographical aspects of the country.

Water security of a country occurs when its population has sustainable access to adequate quantities of quality water for development across different sectors. In the Brazilian context, characterized by significant climatic diversity, biodiversity, and land use and cover, measures aimed at ensuring minimum conditions of access to quality water and promoting water security have been institutionalized since the National Water Resources Policy (1997) to the National Water Security Plan (2019). Accordingly, it is necessary to dissect different variables parallel to the water issue to create scenarios that allow us to model and analyze municipal criticality in this regard. Thus, this study aims to understand the criticality of Brazilian municipalities regarding the satisfaction of demands for water resources and to relate the emergence of strategic interventions (completed, ongoing, and planned) within the PNSH. To achieve this, a methodology based on spatial modeling is employed, supported by Spatial Statistical Models and Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA) and Local Spatial Autocorrelation with clusters and outliers. These approaches prove significant, particularly when seeking to understand the territorial reverberation of different variables. Consequently, the panorama of Brazilian water security was delineated based on the recurrence of disasters from extreme events (drought, dry spell, flooding, and runoff), the compromise of water sources for municipal supply (quantitative water balance), water consumption dynamics for the development of various productive activities and social segments, the dependency of rural communities on the Operação Carro-Pipa (OCP) for supply, and the existence of strategic interventions of the PNSH in different types (dams, canals, integration axes, and pipelines). From this overview, two municipalities were identified as "very critical," 1,263 municipalities as "critical," and 595 municipalities as "concerning". For 627 Brazilian municipalities, an amount of R$ 37.9 billion is projected, with a per capita investment of R$ 610.10.

The Seridó World Geopark of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) comprises six municipalities in the northeastern semi-arid region, namely: Acari, Carnaúba dos Dantas, Cerro Corá, Currais Novos, Lagoa Nova and Parelhas, covering a total area of 2,800 km². It is a true testimony of the last 600 million years and tells the history of the planet Earth, being represented by various physical and human elements that, together, present to the community (and to the world) a geological heritage of unique beauty. This research focuses on the municipality of Currais Novos, considered a hub city and gateway to the Seridó Geopark, offering a vast tourist, historical and natural potential. Its five Geosites (Logoa do Santo, Pico do Totoró, Morro do Cruzeiro, Mina Brejuí and Cânions dos Apertados) are graced with elements of Geodiversity and are inhabited by residents who, in a popular way, attribute value to these spaces, being active agents of Geotourism and who keep knowledge of their territory. Thus, the objective is to value the geodiversity of the territory of the Seridó Geopark, in the municipality of Currais Novos, from the perspective of non-geoscientists (local population), in order to identify the places with the greatest contribution to local development and those who need new contributions of incentives. Methodologically, this work will be divided into office activities – with studies and theoretical-conceptual foundations; and field actions – carrying out geoscientific dissemination and popularization workshops, as well as the application of questionnaires for the local population. Along with the help of social cartography and other geoprocessing techniques, the aim is to deliver a geotouristic route to the territory of Currais Novos (indicated and produced by the communities themselves) that fit Geodiversity practices and actions in the municipality.

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This qualification report aims to present the thesis proposal under development with the PPGE/UFRN. The study contemplates a discussion on the tourist regionalization proposed by the Ministry of Tourism, through the Tourism Regionalization Program, noting the fragility of this process, since the criteria adopted for its definition do not satisfactorily contemplate the geographic principles necessary to regionalize. The conceptual failure and the criteria in the constitution of the Brazilian tourist regionalization causes a mismatch of the norm (regional limits and non-articulated municipalities) with the form-content of the tourist activity. From the identified problem, the objective of the research is to develop a methodology of regionalization from the functional cohesion manifested by the tourist activity. The methodological proposal under construction includes, among other elements, the survey of fixed and tourist flows, seeking to identify the functional coherence in the constitution of tourist regions. The preliminary test of the methodology was carried out in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, showing the inconsistencies of the official regionalization. Subsequently, the state of Pernambuco will be considered in order to deepen the proposed methodology.

The point of Public Security is one of the most afflicting our society and one of the most complex to solve it. The growing of criminality and the recurrent shortages in security compose the debate about violence in Brazil and the role that public policies perform in their control makes the issue one of the main political agendas in the country today. These public policies are built from issues involving different areas of knowledge and conflicts of interests. This way, this research starts understanding the territorial processes that envolve policies that mobilize efforts to control crime, based on the assumption of the active role of space in the social totality, as social instance and its relation with other instances, as fundamental elements for the analyzes of public safety. In this study, the relation with the legal instance will be emphasized. This is because the support base of the public security policy is the political territory, understood as the jurisdiction from a State. That said, it was defined as objective to understand the relation between Geography and Law from the interface between the territorial and normative dimension in the public security policy of Piauí. To trace our analyses, support was sought in the conception of used territory, standardized territory and territorial configuration, categories of analysis based on the theory of geographic space from Milton Santos (1994), it was also used the PES method (MATUS, 2005), to substantiate the discussions about strategic planning and the theoretical validity of the concept of territory in Piauí’s security policy. The study of the normative dimension, as well as the way in which the concept of norm and crime are constituted in the epistemological dimension of Law will be mediated by Boaventura de Sousa Santos (1988, 2014), Löic Wacquant (2007; 2008), Sérgio Adorno (1999, 2006), and others. With regard to methodological procedures, in addition to the bibliographical research, a documental survey was carried out specifically focused on the laws and norms that regulate public security in Piauí. In the laboratory stage, maps were produced based on data obtained from public agencies. Finally, an initial proposal for the System of Indicatiors was also prepared for Public Security in Piauí which also made it possible to offer scientific instruments for the interpretation and analysis of the relation between public security and territory use. The research contributions are centered on the proposal to consider the dynamics of the territory as geographic heuristic angle that allows spatializing the phenomena of violence and thinking of the articulated with territorial qualities as a relevant factor in the search for the elaboration of more efficient security policies and coherent with the reality of the territories.

Geographic phenomena can be understood through the analysis of territorial configuration and social relations. As a geographic phenomenon, the Union Voluntary Transfers (TVU) contribute to the constitution of the territorial configuration, its scope that reaches the national scale, with effects on the various entities and national entities, the projects and financial resources used materialize in the municipalities, with that , enable infrastructures in several areas of public interest. The political relationship involved in the process of planning, defining and allocating resources is fundamental for understanding the theme. At the national level, projects and financial resources are concentrated in the southeast-northeast region of Brazil. In Rio Grande do Norte, the Union Voluntary Transfers, in the period from 2008 to 2022, accounted for 2.6% of all resources allocated by the Union to subnational entities. In the analyzed period, the state of Rio Grande do Norte brought together objects in the areas of urban infrastructure, health, education, social assistance, water infrastructure, security, technical assistance and culture. In the process related to the Union Voluntary Transfers, the role of norms is fundamental, given the rules for distribution, release and use of resources; that in moments of normative rupture, they affect subnational entities in different ways, which resort to the sphere of a political nature in the search for guaranteeing the resulting resources and infrastructure. The general objective of the research is to understand the territorial configuration of the state of Rio Grande do Norte, based on the implications of the objects installed in the potiguar territory from the Union's Voluntary Transfers. For the organization and analysis of data on the subject, we used some typologies, in order to group the set of Union Voluntary Transfers objects in the Potiguar territory, we also carried out the analysis of the normative base on the subject, observing the successions and coexistences within the scope of its political aspects and technicians and conducting interviews.

Wetlands, found in all parts of the globe, are transitional macrohabitats between aquatic and terrestrial environments, subject to flooding by fresh, brackish, or saline water, of natural or artificial origin, permanent or temporary. On the northern coast of Rio Grande do Norte, wetlands have become one of the environments most exposed to human driving forces, often due to their local natural characteristics, such as morphodynamics influenced by factors like daily tidal action, topographic elevation below 1.0 meter, and sedimentary constitution. The natural macrohabitats of wetlands, such as tidal channels, mangroves, apicums, lagoons, and ponds, have been compromised, especially due to the expansion of economic activities. These, classified as artificial macrohabitats, cause direct and indirect interference in the provision of ecosystem services. In this context, research that evaluates the causes and effects that compromise the supply and change of services emerges as crucial diagnostic and prognostic tools for environmental and regulatory agencies, besides contributing scientifically to discussions among researchers on the topic. Therefore, considering the environmental, economic and social importance of these wetlands, this thesis aims to evaluate the coastal macrohabitats in the lower course of the Piranhas-Açu River (RN/NE), based on the relationship between the provision of ecosystem services offered by natural and artificial macrohabitats, as well as the influence of this relationship on the area's different trade-offs. To achieve this objective, the methodological procedures consisted of the following steps: 1) literature review; 2) use of geotechnologies for the characterization and spatialization of coastal macrohabitats; 3) application of multivariate statistics for soil analysis of different natural macrohabitats; 4) classification of ecosystem services through the theoretical-methodological support of the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES); and 5) construction of the DPSIR (Driver–Pressure–State–Impact–Response) matrix to identify the cause and effect indicators that influence the loss or change of services (trade-offs). In the lower course of the Piranhas-Açu River, six macrohabitats were identified: tidal channels, mangroves, apicum, lagoons, salt pans and shrimp farming. These are distributed heterogeneously, with sedimentological variability due to their location in periodically flooded zones, influenced by both marine and fluvial dynamics. The main results indicated an increase in solar salt pans (8,185.4 ha) and shrimp farming (2,100 ha) over the 53 years analyzed. Conversely, apicum showed a reduction of 3,055.95 ha and mangroves of 439 ha, demonstrating a growing insertion of artificial macrohabitats over these natural wetlands' macrohabitats. The identification of services revealed that these environments have a high supply capacity, especially in the provisioning categories, highlighting the collection of fish and crustaceans, and regulation/ maintenance, with the regulation of physical, chemical, and biological conditions. From the analysis of the DPSIR chain indicators, it was possible to list 11 trade-offs, three in the provisioning section and eight in the regulation/maintenance section, highlighting the need to measure the different uses and occupations in the landscape. To mitigate these effects, three responses were proposed: creation of priority areas for conservation; development of a Degraded Areas Recovery Plan (PRAD); and environmental monitoring. These measures aim to solve the impacts and promote sustainable use in the face of human dependence on ecosystem services, culminating in the construction of a conceptual model for the recovery of degraded natural macrohabitats and, consequently, the increase of ecosystem services. It is hoped that the results achieved will contribute to the local diagnosis and prognosis, encourage continuous environmental education actions, as well as water, soil, and salinity monitoring and inspection.

The Presbyterian Church of Brazil in Natal (RN), despite being the first evangelical denomination in the city, 

currently does not have a widely capillarized territoriality through the implantation of temples in comparison

 to other more recent evangelical denominations historically. Considering the nature of the religious phenomenon from a geographical perspective, the revealed 

identity of the Presbyterian Church of Brazil in the context of the urban space of the Natal, this dissertation 

has as main objective to analyze the temporal and territorial evolution of the church. Through field research, 

conversations with leaders, bibliographical and documentary research and data collection about the churches and the city, we will 

discuss the results throughout the chapters of this work.

The municipalities of Guamaré and Galinhos, both located in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, stand out nationally with its exuberance and tourist attractions, with emphasis on the municipality of Galinhos, which is one of the tourist destinations of prominence not only nationally but also internationally. The Geodiversity defined here as designation of elements and abiotic processes, is in the spotlight of these municipalities, for giving genesis and form to beautiful landscapes in them. The Geodiversity worked here, was not always a science that was in evidence in the academic environment, because it can be seen that for a certain period the science may have given greater emphasis on the biotic environment, especially when dealing with nature conservation. Thus, in the 1990s theorists began to develop studies seeking to insert the abiotic elements as crucial elements in natural conservation, placing them with the same value as biodiversity. The Geodiversity, after three decades of multiple researches and methods developed, today has become an area of varied study, giving emphasis to its most outstanding elements, called in the literature of Geopatrimony, emphasizing that the investigation will emphasize the geomorphological heritage, scope of the Geopattrimony. Thus, this research aims to evaluate the geomorphological heritage of the municipalities of Guamaré and Galinhos, from the sheets for quantitative and qualitative evaluation of geomorphological heritage developed by Araújo (2021), Diniz, Araújo and Chagas (2021; 2022), based on literature review, field work and finally the realization of a summary map of the geomorphological heritage of the study area. For this, it was then delimited the following sites of geomorphological interest: the Presidio Island, the beaches of Minhoto/Amaro, and the Hake Head, located in the municipality of Guamaré; the beaches of Farol/Galinhos, the André Dunes, the Capim Dunes and the Galinhos eolianite, located in the municipality of Galinhos; the Galinhos-Guamaré Estuarine Complex, which is present in both municipalities now investigated. From the quantitative evaluation these sites were classified as geomorphosites and geodiversity sites: seven of them were classified as geomorphosites and one as a geodiversity site.

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In different contexts, the Araguaia River influenced the daily life of the population that lives, lived and experienced Conceição do Araguaia (Pará), revealing much of the geographies and histories of the place. In the life and imagination of indigenous people, country person, dominicans, extractivists, fishermen, boatmen or traders, among other subjects who were/are part of this space-time, the Araguaia is perceived and represented in different ways. Therefore, each of these groups has a particular identity relationship with the river. Although different identities are constructed (and consequently different “places”), and although Araguaia is perceived in multiple ways, we consider that each of these subjects who experienced Conceição do Araguaia could build symbolism and affectivity with this water space. Therefore, as the objective of this study, we seek to understand the identity relationship of the residents of Conceição do Araguaia/PA with the river and the possibilities of perceiving it as a geosymbol. To achieve this objective, bibliographic and documentary surveys were carried out, field work in which it was possible to carry out exploratory interviews, record photographs and participant observations, such procedures made it possible to build a dense description about the object of study. Carrying out a broader reading about those who were part of the processes that led to the formation of Conceição do Araguaia, it is necessary to consider the cultural pluricity along this space-time cut that starts from the end of the 19th century to the present day. Each of these subjects inscribes their symbols and signs, leaving ephemeral and lasting marks along the course of this river. They are social groups that shared the same time-space, but that perceive the river from almost always different perspectives. The landscape is, therefore, formed by sociocultural layers. The variety of subjects who have experienced the city results in multicultural identities that are in line with the different temporalities and spatialities experienced by these subjects, directly impacting their perceptions of the Araguaia River. Therefore, even though it is about multiple perceptions, it is possible to say that the presence of the river in the lives of these people makes it a geosymbol.

In Brazil, several projects and political initiatives at the federal and state levels have been developed throughout history aimed at resolving/alleviating/mitigating problems resulting from severe drought periods registered in the Northeast region. As an example, we have the Açudagem Program, which emerged as a short and medium term alternative benefiting states in the northeast region, among which Ceará stands out – with a less privileged rainy regime, with almost all of its territory in the drought polygon. It has 12 river basins, with Jaguaribe as the most important, which is composed of three basins (high, medium and low Jaguaribe), together they have approximately 54% of the state's water storage capacity (CEARÁ, 2015). From the point of view of efficient water management, the transposition water works Project for the Integration of the São Francisco River with the Northern Northeast Watersheds (PISF) and the Ceará Water Belt (CAC), have been leaving effects and marks in the territories where pass. These marks and effects directly and indirectly cause social and environmental transformations and impacts. What is perceived in this

logic of global ideas and local actions, are environmental and social problems that manifest themselves locally, leaving their mark on the urban and rural landscape, on the environment and on ways of life. To achieve our objective, which is to understand the relevance of the water macrosystem of the state of Ceará designed/installed in the Jati territory and its effects on the socio-environmental dynamics, a bibliographic research will be carried out where we will highlight the ideas of Santos (1993), Saboia (2015) and Brito (2016) along with many others that may bring us concerns and contributions. We will also carry out documentary research where we will analyze laws, projects, decrees, documents on water projects and policies in Ceará and other documents on the water issue in the Northeast and in Brazil. The field research constitutes another stage in which we will analyze the water works in the municipality of Jati and at the same time, through interviews, we will try to understand the marks, effects and territorial transformations of these. Finally, the data, records and other materials will be organized and analyzed so that from there we can investigate in more depth and consis what we

we propose to search. These megaprojects that are part of a complex water macrosystem are not accompanied by local benefits, their idealization arises from the discourse of water scarcity and the need to offer water for human consumption, their materialization marks the territories in a permanent and diverse way and their usefulness is related to economic projects and the interests of capital that make use of the drought discourse and based on these, legitimize their interests. These interests being extraterritorial leave local marks that need to be researched and understood.

This work addresses the characteristics of the karst morphology present in the region of the São Romão Valley, between the municipalities of Altaneira and Farias Brito, State of Ceará. The region highlighted in this study is inserted in the geological and tectonic context of the northern portion of the Borborema Province, Rio Grande do Norte Domain. It is a region with a semi-arid climate, which presents a set of typically karstic forms made up of metacalcariums from the Estaterian period, such as the Lapias, which are exposed to the surface and make up the landscape of the slopes of the São Romão Valley. With the objective of characterizing the karst morphology present in the region, working on the aspects of formation, description of morphologies and mapping them. The research work began with the survey of readings, followed by three other stages, such as field research, production of thematic maps of the area and analysis and writing of the collected data. This work used bibliographic research, field research and mapping as the main actions for understanding and describing the dynamics of karst forms and processes in the region. The study area is an integral part of the sertaneja depression, with the presence of a large massif (Serra do Quincuncá), residual crests, structured in metacalcarious and a morphostructure with strong influence of fault lines in its genesis. The genesis and evolution of the karst of the region was possible by the joint action of exogenous factors, such as humidity and temperature, something that is not present in the place today. By relying only on high temperatures and low humidity levels throughout the year, the present karst morphology of the area is a reflection of a formation in past climatic conditions. The karst morphology has a characteristic genesis, requiring favorable climates, with high humidity, high temperatures and mineralogical components ideal for dissolution/erosion, such as calcite and dolomite. The most common morphologies identified in the area are part of the exogenous karst, with the presence of metacalcareous walls, Lapiás in flutings, fields of lápias and exhumed blocks. 

The process of verticalization of cities is closely related to the production of urban space and the built environment, under the logic of capital reproduction, which causes spatial transformations. In the last two decades, the verticalization of the city of Natal/RN, which had been concentrated until the end of the 20th century in the East and South administrative regions, spread beyond these and demonstrated new perspectives on the dynamics of the real estate market in the North and West administrative regions . The characteristics of the verticalization that took place in these new spaces differ from the process that took place previously, in terms of the construction pattern, consumer market, forms of financing and others. Within this context, the role of the Minha Casa Minha Vida Program (PMCMV) should be highlighted. Therefore, the objective of this research is to analyze the diffusion of the verticalization process in the city of Natal from the strategies of public and private agents, explaining how this phenomenon reinforces the uneven geographic development of the city of Natal/RN. The spatial cut for the elaboration of the thesis refers to the Natal territory and the temporal, takes place between the years 2001 and 2021, a period in which verticalization began to occur in all administrative regions of the city. In methodological terms, the instruments used in the preparation of the chapters are bibliographic research and the use of data from primary sources (field research, photographic record, and interviews) and secondary sources, with emphasis on the consultation of documents from municipal bodies related to the object of study.

The expansion of the use of technical-scientific objects (inputs and agricultural machinery) in irrigated fruit growing in the Semi-Arid Northeast is configured as a spatial dynamic associated with the continuous demands for technical materials in the different uses of the territory in the segment. The transformations in the technical bases of Brazilian agriculture that have taken place since the 1960s, with the introduction of technological packages in the mold of the Green Revolution, correspond to an intrinsic variable. In the semi-arid portion of the country, such changes were linked to the implementation of public irrigated perimeters in the valleys of the main rivers, where environmental and social conditions were and are favorable to fruit production to supply the national and international market. Today, different agents, processes and events contribute to the dissemination of these inputs and agricultural machinery in irrigated fruit growing, whether due to the demands of agribusiness or peasant agriculture. In this context, we believe that in areas with greater production of irrigated fruit, normative relationships are established in the territory in order to subject peasant farmers to the technical production parameters required by the international market, configuring the subjection of land income to capital still in the expansion phase of the technical-scientific objects in the respective vector. Thus, this research aims to analyze the expansion of the use of technical-scientific objects in irrigated fruit growing as a vector for subjecting land income to capital in peasant agriculture in the semi-arid Northeast. To fulfill the objective, theoretical-methodological procedures will enable an approach to the investigated object, especially through the theoretical review on land income, technique and irrigated fruit growing, documentary research, collection and systematization of secondary data through agencies such as the IBGE, MAPA and ME, in addition to empirical research with interviews with farmers using pre-structured forms.

The present work consists of analyzing the constituency of the Macapá-Santana Urban Agglomeration (AUMS) and its relationship with the mouth of the Amazonas Islands sub-region. Located in Northern Amapá Amazonian Area (ASA), both AUMS and ASA have a strong historical connection, dating back to the Lusitanian Colonial period. The first chapter discusses the formation of AUMS, its historical constitution, passing through the importance of transforming the federal territory of Amapá for its construction to urban restructuring along the highways. The second chapter discusses the genesis of the urban network in the Amazon, from the constitution of fortifications to the opening of highways and the consequences for ASA and the development of the geographic network of AUMS. The methodology used in this research was the documentary bibliographic research related to the concepts of urban agglomeration, metropolitan region, urban network and urbanization in the Amazon. The reading of scientific articles, available databases, books and materials that could serve as a theoretical basis for the work contributed to the analysis and discussion of data and their relation with conceptual approaches about the process of formation of urban agglomerations. As a partial result of this doctoral thesis, it was noticed that the geographic network between the AUMS and the sub-region of the islands of the mouth of the Amazon takes place around the vast hydrographic network due to the dynamics of exchange of goods, access to health and education network. by riverside dwellers who incorporate urban dynamics into their daily lives, forming new ways of using space, which are called urban-riparian spaces within the AUMS, in addition to identifying the strong sub-regional dynamic influence on ASA.

This thesis highlights the importance of promoting health both for the biological body and for the dignity and development of human potential. It conceives Health in a multifactorial way and, not exclusively, based on biological issues, and presents its spatial approach, translated into the designation of Healthy Territories, as a valuable indicator of sustainability in assessments of territorial impacts. It starts from the premise that it is not enough to enable the use of high renewable energy potential as a solution for electricity supply, without thinking about combining it with the space of production and living, therefore, with the territory (SANTOS, 2008). It argues that energy production must be integrated as a key element for changes in the territory and the materialization of solutions that promote health and well-being for populations (GALVÃO, 2020). This is because the expansion of renewable energy for electricity production puts pressure on the environment economically and socially on different scales (from global to local), and in particular, in regions with the best winds. In these, the materialization of the action of globalization vectors affects territories differently and incompletely - sometimes mitigating, sometimes worsening unsustainability. Therefore, if on the one hand the natural conditions of Rio Grande do Norte favor the conversion of wind into electricity, on the other hand, the territories covered by energy generation projects are spaces marked by social backwardness, with their resident population facing difficulties of all kinds. orders, including general health conditions. This highly complex dialectic is expressed in the obfuscation of the banal territory by the dynamics of networks that, based on verticalities, disregard ordinary life and its everyday problems (SANTOS, SOUZA, SILVEIRA, 1998). Given this panorama, the thesis requires a theoretical construction in which the concepts of Territory, Health and Energy are considered from their interfaces, with Sustainability as a backdrop. Therefore, Healthy Territory and renewable energy appear as perspectives for providing socio-environmental quality to society and are aligned, from a Sustainability point of view, with the social, economic and environmental context of the territory as a resource, guaranteeing the accomplishment of particular interests, and as a shelter, based on the development of strategies that guarantee survival in the places (SANTOS et al., 2000). Therefore, the thesis seeks to understand the relationship between wind energy production and the promotion of a Healthy Territory in the communities of Amarelão, Serrote de São Bento, Assentamento Santa Terezinha and Enxu Queimado, in Rio Grande do Norte, and proposes, as a methodological tool, an analysis matrix based on the elements of space (SANTOS, 2014a). To achieve its objective, it employs bibliographic, documentary and field research from the perspective of a case study. It is characterized as exploratory, descriptive and explanatory with a predominantly qualitative approach to analyzing the data generated through the application of a research form, focus group and semi-structured interviews, in addition to the collection of secondary data. Finally, it defends the thesis that the production of wind energy results in limited benefits for the well-being of the local populations of the Amarelão, Serrote de São Bento, Assentamento Santa Terezinha and Enxu Queimado communities, with insufficient impact on the improvement of socio-environmental conditions and, therefore, in the promotion of Healthy Territories.

Occurring between the land-sea strips, the mangrove ecosystem plays important roles in the absorption and storage of , in maintaining biodiversity, filtering water and controlling coastal erosion. Despite such relevance, this ecosystem has been pointed out as one of the most impacted, especially due to climatic events and historical economic exploitation on the coast. Considering this, there is a demand for research that expands the dialogue aimed at the environmental quality of the mangrove from the identification, quantification, fragmentation, density, carbon sequestration and valuation of the mangrove. Therefore, the objective of this research is to evaluate the mangrove that integrates the Piranhas-Açu/RN River Estuary Complex, identifying its spatial distribution, its metric and density patterns, as well as the potential for atmospheric carbon sequestration, and the monetary value of its mangrove vegetation, as indicators of ecosystem conservation. As methodological procedures, the following steps were followed: 1) Bibliographic survey; 2) Identification of mangrove in 2008 and 2021; 3) Application of landscape metrics in mangrove fragments from both years; 4) Based on the 2021 mangrove fragments, the following indexes were calculated: Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Photochemical Reflectance Index (PRI), sPRI, and the flux index; and 5) Based on the mangrove fragments from 2008 and 2021, the monetary estimate of the mangrove will be made. So far, the introduction, theoretical foundation, presentation of the study area, methodology, as well as the following results were carried out: 1. Multitemporal mapping of the mangrove; 2. Landscape metrics in mangrove fragments; 3. Estimate of mangrove density and its potential for carbon sequestration. However, the chapter on the valuation of mangrove fragments will still be elaborated, as well as the final considerations of the dissertation.

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Throughout human history on earth, different societies have tried to seek alternatives to environmental problems, and one of these paths has been the creation of protected areas, whichare fragmented into different categories, with the Conservation Unit (UC) being one of them. The Jenipabu Environmental Protection Area (APAJ), the result of this possibility of human interaction in a sustainable way, with its 1881 hectares that cover the municipalities of Extremoz (97%) and Natal (3%), located on the eastern coast of the state of Rio Grande do Norte (RN), with its diverse uses of the territory, is the result of this human effort in regulating activities in natural and protected environments. Therefore, this research seeks to understand the limits of sustainability from the use of the territory and natural resources, with the main objective of analyzing the use and management of the territory of the Environmental Protection Area of Jenipabu, discussing the limits to sustainability in the face of rules and conflicts in the use of natural resources. The adopted methodology is fragmented between bibliographic and documentary research, the latter being an analysis of works already published on APAJ, seeking to understand the socio-environmental dynamics and the transversality to the sustainability theme. The third methodological step is materialized in the field procedures, which will rely on the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) Framework method, which starts from an institutional analysis of APAJ based on a survey on the actors and rules in use, as well as on the management of that UC. Therefore, we seek to apply a questionnaire with elements of the IAD method, seeking the main actors and institutionalized rules and social arrangements created to facilitate the use of the resources present in the geographical complex of the dunes at APAJ.

The main objective of this work is to analyze the response and adaptation capacities of the population of the Maranguapinho river basin, based on a temporal study of the elaboration of vulnerability and risk indexes. It is located in the western portion of the urban area of the Metropolitan Region of Fortaleza (RMF), more precisely between the coordinates 3º 42 'and 3º 58' south latitude and 38º 35 'and 38º 44' west longitude, flowing into the river Ceará, thus, sharing the same mouth and fluviomarinha plain. It is worth mentioning that the Maranguapinho and Ceará rivers are considered independent hydrographic basins. The basin in its entirety is occupied by the municipalities of Maranguape, Maracanaú, Fortaleza and Caucaia, however, we will research the basin on the territory of Fortaleza, considering the large population concentration. The study area was occupied by the population with less purchasing power in a territory of environmental fragility, in this socio-environmental context it is configured as one of the most problematic and worrying environments in the city of Fortaleza. Strengthening the debate, the State Coordination for Civil Defense of Ceará counts 96 areas considered at risk in Fortaleza, where 43 are in the Maranguapinho river basin, totaling an average of 12,000 affected families. (CEDC, 2011), where one of the main problems is the flood events, a fact that drew attention to the preparation of this research. Therefore, with the help of the framework of geographic science and its multidisciplinarity, we can verify relevance for the discussion of topics such as risk, danger and vulnerability, about the area, since it is a portrait of the modern society in which we live, thus , the debate and the construction of indicators and indexes one of the ways to face the problem found. In this way, we need to overcome the imposed dualities and understand how the geographic space needs to be interpreted, that is, a conjunction of the natural and the human, elaborating the concept in an articulation between nature and society, that is, analyzing it as an interface between the natural sciences and the social sciences.

The debate about the future of the cities is a topic of studies in public administration, Universities and social movements, since the steady growth of urban problems demands solutions for the public. The initiatives idealized by public managers and the solutions in technology presented by companies have been configured over the years as paths to make cities more fair, healthy, creative and sustainable places. Thereby, information and communication technologies, associated to State and companies’ policies create dynamic effects, turning cities into Smart Cities. A Smart City is the one that, through the incorporation of information and communication, as well as the appropriation of those elements by citizens, offers improvements in the quality of urban life to all of those who enjoy it. In this way, several Brazilian cities have made a public commitment to incorporate smart city practices into their urban policies by 2030, by joining the Brazilian Network of Human, Smart, Creative and Sustainable Cities. The object of this research are the two municipalities in the Metropolitan Region of Natal, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, that have joined this network: Natal and Parnamirim. Its general objective is to analyze the efforts made by both these municipalities to achieve the status of Smart and Human cities, considering their territorial attributes (from the environmental, normative, economic and social dimensions). This research’s operationalization used bibliographic and documentary research; secondary data collected and organized within the scope of the research Smart Cities: territory, technology and planning in the Northeast of Brazil, developed at UFRN; primary data collection; and photographic records, that subsidized the production of graphics, maps and charts. Analyzes’ results show that the municipalities of Natal and Parnamirim have carried out specific initiatives (such as partnerships with companies and Universities and the creation of a normative framework on the subject) to promote the goal of become Smart Cities, but that there is still a long road until Parnamirim and Natal can be recognized as such.

The body may not initially seem like a geographic theme, especially the drag body. However, by understanding that spatial dimensions are open, unfinished, diversified, made of impalpable and immaterial textures; space becomes skin, body, ground, city (HISSA and NOGUEIRA, 2013). Therefore, when analyzing the drag queens' experience in the city, it is possible to notice how influential bodies can be in space and how much space can influence these bodies. In this way, it is worth asking: In what ways can space influence the way the drag queen experiences the city? And how can drag be conceived as a factor that redefines the way the city is offered to those who want to enjoy the urban nightlife? The present research emerges as a journey of discoveries and reflections, revealing dimensions that could seem disconnected, or go unnoticed, but which reveal the influence of the drag queen in the configurations of urban space, together with its influence on the construction of the “I”. For this, we analyzed the experience of drag queens in Natal (RN) and, as the phenomenon was revealed, we focused on theoretical-conceptual issues.

Estuaries have very different characteristics in terms of their environmental aspects. It is in these regions that one of the most complex ecosystems on planet Earth can be found, the mangroves. Considered as an important biological indicator, the structure and distribution of mangrove vegetation are affected by changes in the tidal regime, hydrological recharge of rivers, salinity, climatic and precipitation conditions, and by human action, the latter being the starting point for the analysis of the research, which has as its object a cut of the estuarine part of the Potengi river basin, located in the city of Natal. The mangrove ecosystem included in the research cut is pressured by the advance of urban expansion. Thus, considering the use and coverage of the landscape from a systemic perspective, from the theoretical-methodological support of Landscape Geoecology, the general objective of the research was to identify the main environmental impacts present in the study area, caused by the different activities developed in the sector. estuary and its repercussions on the mangrove ecosystem, considering the spatial organization of physical and socioeconomic aspects and its consequences in the forms of use and occupation. The research was developed in different phases, namely: organization and inventory, analysis, diagnosis and proposition, containing specific actions that allowed achieving the objectives of the work. Through bibliographic and field research, and the use of geoprocessing techniques, a database was created in a Geographic Information System (GIS) that allowed the elaboration of cartographic products related to the research area, such as thematic maps and chart images. The results achieved in the research allowed the identification of impacted areas, related to the different forms of use and occupation. Another relevant point was the possibility of socializing and disseminating actions already developed in the sector of the study area, with direct involvement with regard to execution and planning, related to the propositional stage of the research.

Currently, there has been a tendency in geography to use Indicator Systems to work
with larger scales, as this tool has been shown to be a territorial instrument for data
analysis that provides solidity in the situational identification and classification of
reality, basing on effective and coherent decision-making and the establishment of
regional and local territorial policies. With that, from reading the documents of the Blue
Amazon Economic Potential Project for the state of Rio Grande do Norte carried out by
the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), in partnership with the
Ministry of Regional Development (MDR), he realized the absence of a tool to organize
and systematize the data collected in order to provide a robust and concrete analysis of
the Economy of the Sea, in the Blue Amazon, a complex and dynamic geographic
space. Thus, this master's research proposes to understand the Economy of the Sea in
RN, from the elaboration of an Indicator System, using the socioeconomic data raised
by the Project. The specific objective is the organization and systematization of data, the
proposal of the Indicator System for the Economy of the Sea to the Project, the
discussion of economic dynamics and disparities of the coast and the pointing out of
spatial trends in the management of the territory, based on the results of the System
itself. To this end, the spatial theory of Milton Santos is chosen, which will face
geographic discussions, the Indicators Methodology and Regional Analysis as a way of
analyzing the results.

At the time when America played a central role in the mercantilist development and organization of the contemporary world system, in a certain portion of the Northeast region of Brazil, linked to the monoculture of sugarcane, since its origin, the target of development on the part of the then Portuguese State, a certain social formation was constituted. The empirical dimension of the study takes place in the sugarcane productive region that extends from the Pernambuco to Alagoas. As a research problem, it is considered how the role played by the Brazilian State, from the Empire to the Republic, in the sugar and alcohol sector impacted the social formation of a certain portion of the states of Pernambuco and Alagoas where the sugarcane culture is developed. In this sense, the thesis analyzes the social formation of the territorial cut of the largest sugarcane production in the states of Pernambuco and Alagoas from the performance of the Brazilian State and its direct and indirect intervention on the activity throughout imperial and republican history. It starts from the hypothesis that the sugarcane region is the result of the Brazilian state action in the sugarcane economy, having its genesis, transformations and, above all, permanences, directly linked to national policy. As specific objectives, we seek to define the concept of Social Formation and validate its application on a regional scale; to systematize the forms of state intervention in the sugar-alcohol economy and; to describe the process of territorial occupation of the sugarcane productive region and its socioeconomic aspects. Theoretically, the study is guided by the concepts of Social Formation, applying it to the understanding of a sub-space inserted in the totality and of the Productive Region, considering that the dimension related to the mode of production is relevant. By valuing the material dimension of geographic space, the research considers the materialist-based dialectic as valid for relating to one of the precepts dear to the geographic analysis proposed by Milton Santos, the of totality, and with the very concept of Social Formation due to its totalizing nature. In methodological terms, the starting point is bibliographic research, especially in works by Milton Santos on the theme of Social Formation; documental research in collections of laws to recognize the Brazilian state performance in the sugarcane economy and in statistical series published for the collection of quantitative data on sugarcane production; and field research to record the changes and permanence in the regional sugarcane landscape over time. Finally, it is concluded that the concept of Social Formation is valid for the understanding of spatial scales beyond the nation-state, among them the productive region; that intervention in the sugarcane economy has always been present in Brazilian state history; and that the very process of territorial occupation of the region and socioeconomic characteristics are mainly linked to the sugarcane activity. The Brazilian State, therefore, was the main agent for the maintenance and consolidation of the activity in the region, even in the face of national transformations in terms of productive activity.

Human supply is one of the essential activities for the development of society, since actions of a commercial, industrial, residential nature, among others, require large-scale water consumption. In urban centers, where consumption demand tends to be greater, there is a need for water supply systems to be technically well structured, so that they can serve the population effectively and minimize the risk of water collapse. Several Brazilian cities in recent years have gone through situations of water shortages or collapse, such as Natal, capital of the state of Rio Grande do Norte, which has faced a series of problems in its water supply system. In 2017, for example, the Extremoz lagoon, one of the main reservoirs that supply the city, only had 35.67% of its total capacity, due to the long period of drought that affected much of the state's territory. The analysis of this context took into account two sets of categories: the categories of land use; and collapse risk categories. From this perspective, the objective was to analyze the relationship between the use of the territory and the risk of hydrological collapse of the water supply system in Natal. To achieve this objective, a series of methodological procedures were adopted, such as the articulation of the categories of land use and risk analysis; the definition of levels of analysis, study variables and weighting scales; database management in a matrix perspective (rows x columns); the mathematical-statistical formulation of the Water Supply System Collapse Risk Index (IRCSAA) in Natal; as well as cartographic categorization and the application of the Geographic Information System in the context of the IRCSAA. Preliminary results from the application of the IRCSAA for the North subsystem, showed that the risk of water collapse in the analyzed supply sectors was very high and high. Of the four sectors analyzed, three had a very high IRCSAA; and a tall one. Such a scenario requires the application of management measures and actions so that the risk of collapse is reduced and the water supply system works more effectively.

.The risks of disasters are accentuated due to urban growth coupled with the lack of territorial planning, social inequality, environmental degradation and several other factors that contribute to the occurrence of this type of event. In this perspective, two cities in the Northeast can be highlighted: Natal (RN) and São Luís (MA) which have recurrent cases of risks of mass movements in the districts Mãe Luíza - Natal and Vila Embratel - São Luís and also cases of flooding only in Vila Embratel. However, it is important to note that each area has physical-natural aspects distinct example, in St. Louis predominance trays and dissected trays (CPRM, 2018), while in Natal, fixed and mobile dunes formations are quite significant ( CPRM, 2016). However, the natural configurations and also the social characteristics of both areas are not an impediment to the occurrence of risks, on the contrary, this accentuates the possibility of these events occurring. Thus, this research seeks to answer: How do disaster risk indicators on a local scale help in identifying the degree of risk considering the dimensions of exposure and social vulnerability in an urban area? Whereas the risk is determined by the product of exposure and social vulnerability, the hypothesis to be validated part of the following statement: The degree of risk can be high or low and the element that will determine this value is the exposure and social vulnerability. Although a given area is very exposed and not very vulnerable, or even little exposed and very vulnerable, the risk will remain high. Therefore, it is not related only to exposure to danger or just to the social characteristics of the population. The risk depends on both dimensions and can be high, even though their levels are inversely proportional. To validate or refute this hypothesis, the general objective of the research is to produce disaster risk indicators on a local scale based on the dimensions of exposure and social vulnerability in the Vila Embratel (São Luís - MA) and Mãe Luíza (Natal - RN) neighborhoods. Thus, the procedures of this study were divided into three stages: the first deals with the risk exposure of each area where two indices are measured: Exposure to Mass Movement (IEMM) and exposure to flood (IEI). This step is discussed on a methodology that will give more detail to the Exhibition; the second stage will be possible to identify the Social Vulnerability Index of local, considering the susceptibility factors, ability to cope and adaptability. In the third moment, the indices will be overlapped and, therefore, the Local Disaster Risk Index (IRDL) of the areas under analysis will be diagnosed, considering the Equation: R = E x VS, where R is Risk; And it means Exposure and VS refers to Social Vulnerability. The result of this work is intended to identify the risk of local disaster in a timely manner by detailing the dimensions: social vulnerability and exposure.

From an open approach to space, we take urban interventions as a conducting element of a landscape experience in the city of Natal. Constituted by the itinerant movement of the body in encounter with the world, with space, the landscape is understood here as becoming, that is, always being made. The present thesis sought, from the notion of Rizoma, to present the landscape of Natal through urban  interventions, which we believe to mobilize the lines of the rhizome, evidencing a rhizomatic condition. The diversity of interventions that is distinguished in the landscape produces sensations, affects, positive or negative, a landscape experience that can refer to order, freedom, beauty, excess, repetition, the extraordinary. Thus, as an expression of multiplicity, urban interventions constitute different spatialities, mobilizing different points of view and perspectives in the public space of the city. In the path traced to achieve the objectives of the thesis, we consider the assemblages that take place in the spaces of coexistence and visibility of the city, the way in which they are constantly territorialized, deterritorialized and reterritorialized. We seek, this time, to guide our thinking beyond the binomial materiality/immateriality, subject/object, society/nature. There is no separation between them, but a body of multiplicities. Following this premise of reciprocity, the territory, a concept that for Deleuze and Guattari (1997) takes place through assemblage, is composed both by its content, machinic assemblages of bodies (or desires), and by its expression, the collective assemblages of enunciation. The first is constituted as the manifestation of the relationship that occurs between bodies, and the second refers to the statements, to a regime of signs, whose expression machine is based on a social fabric and not on a subject. In this way, we took the testimonies of the interveners as a source of investigation in which it was possible, based on subjectivity and personality, to consider the existence of a collectivity that is established among those who transgress the landscape. Thinking about urban intervention from the agencies that carry it out, implied considering the combination of bodies, whose associations, in addition to distinct expressions in the landscape, correspond to the continuous process of territorialization/deterritorialization/reterritorialization. Expressing the rhizomatic condition, the urban interventions that appear in the landscape are both predictable, countable, like the lines of segmentarity, and unpredictable, corresponding to rupture, and creating the new, such as lines of flight.

The spatial circuit of textile production expresses capillarity throughout practically the entire national territory. In terms of spatial distribution of the activity, the Concentrated Region stands out, which, as suggested by the nomenclature itself, has the highest technical density and concentration of firms, followed by the Northeast region. In this one, the topology of the textile space circuit presents peculiarities, especially after the remarkable proliferation that occurred, especially in the last two decades - noting, however, that this expansion is not recent and carries marks arising from the shocks faced throughout its historical evolution. -space. Thus, the work on screen analyzes the spatial circuit of textile production in the Brazilian Northeast, from its productive specializations and the contradictions expressed by the corporate use of the territory, in terms of the dimensions of technique, capital and work. In view of the problematization outlined in this report, it is conjectured that this productive spatial circuit, in the established cut, materializes through territorial specializations that are coordinated by a corporate use of an extraverted character, whose control is exercised externally by devices of appropriation of the process of circulation of capital, as well as the alienation of the production process. These capital accumulation devices combine forms and norms, among which stand out, on the one hand, the mechanisms of fiscal and financial benefits/attractions and, on the other hand, expropriation and exploitation of the workforce. For the delimitation of the object and achievement of the specific objectives, the techniques and methodological procedures of bibliographic, documentary and field research were established. The theoretical framework permeates a general discussion about geographic space as a totality and the approach of productive spatial circuits from the point of view of a political economy of the territory in Santos (2008a, 2008b, 2012a, 2012c), Moraes (1984), Marx (2011a) , 2011b), Harvey (2013) and Castillo and Frederico (2010); as well as based on the categories of socio-spatial training and territorial division of labor (SANTOS, 1977b, 2005, 2008e, 2012a; SERENI, 2013; BARRIOS, 2014, GOLDENSTEIN; SEABRA, 2011; RIBEIRO, 2003; SILVEIRA, 2010b) to reflect on the development of the northeastern region (ALBUQUERQUE JÚNIOR, 2011; ANDRADE 1970, 1981a and 1988; ARAÚJO, 2002; OLIVEIRA, 1977). In the historical-spatial contextualization constructed – carried out in accordance with the analysis of Santos and Silveira (2001) on the Brazilian geographic environment – three periods in the evolution of the Northeastern textile activity were identified and discussed: the agrarian roots of the spatial circuit textile production; the gestation of “internal domination”; and the peripheral insertion to the informational technical-scientific environment. Finally, the writing plan is proposed and outlined, conjecturing the further composition of the thesis.

The Geography is a science with unique characteristics. Being in a privileged position, but, at the same time, difficult to define, geographical science is placed between the human and natural sciences. But it is also part of the dual role of basic and applied sciences. And this crossroads is caused, mainly, by the recent systematization, carried out in Germanic lands a little over two centuries ago. As a result of this phenomenon, the Geography has its main concepts “borrowed” from other sciences and still resignified in current times. But the Geosystem, created almost 60 years ago by the Soviet Sochava, is the closest thing to a 100% geographic theoretical entity. And, despite being contained in Geography, the Geosystem, for different reasons, was misunderstood, especially in Western Geography. Understood, initially, as a theoretical core and, later, as a concept, the Geosystem ended up losing its greatest capacity, which is analytical in the form of a category. And this, despite seeming obvious, has not yet been systematized, so that the understandings of the Geosystem as a concept and a taxon are preponderant in current Geography, even if both have logical-philosophical imperfections. Thus, this thesis, of an eminently theoretical and epistemological character, seeks to establish the Geosystem in its proper place, going through a philosophical review of its initial bases, as well as by part of the literature consecrated in the French and Soviet schools in Geography, also exemplifying, in Brazilian Geography and his famous Landscape Unit Studies. In this way, this thesis study aims at an unprecedented theoretical advance, in which the Geosystem can finally be consolidated as a category of analysis, placing it in a deserved place, without greater prominence or lesser importance.

In Brazil, about 60% of the population lives in coastal cities, occupying ecosystems considered to be of high environmental fragility due to environmental impacts occurred mainly by the conversion of natural land coverings into anthropic areas. On the eastern coast of the State of Rio Grande do Norte (RN), the Metropolitan Region of Natal (RMN) develops; the fourth largest metropolitan region in the Northeast of Brazil, which presents a large part of its urban expansion over dune fields, with reduced land use and vegetation cover on the banks of estuaries and lagoons. The objective of this work is to evaluate the socio-environmental problems that occurred in the RMN beginning with the detection of changes in land use and land cover between the years 1984 and 2018 based on the LANDSAT images and Geoprocessing techniques. To this end, in 1984, 1992, 2000, 2010, and 2018, the expansion of the NMR area was mapped in terms of land use and coverage and integrated with census data. The results of land use and coverage indicate that in the 34 years analyzed, the area of vegetation quickly transformed into areas for human activities, mainly pastures. An intense urbanization process was also observed in the municipalities of Natal, Parnamirim, São Gonçalo do Amarante and Extremoz, confirming that urban growth in the RMN occurs over dune field areas and in a disorderly manner. In the RMN Conservation Units (CUs), the APA Piquiri-Una, Emaús and Bonfim-Guaraíra, have more than 60% of their banks converted into anthropic activities. In addition, the banks of estuaries, rivers and lagoons had their vegetation compromised by indiscriminate anthropic use. The RMN presents institutionalized metropolitanization, with fragmented urban areas and without articulation among municipalities on issues and environmental management, on land use and coverage, with the absence of environmental public policies or more specific and integrated legislation that enable new measures for preservation and conservation of UCs and the sustainable development of this coastal territory.

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Difficult to specify its temporality and with disastrous effects, the drought as a historical and natural phenomenon of high complexity, has been the subject of the population of the Northeast Region of Brazil for a long time, which has 70% of its municipalities located in the semiarid region, the same case of the State of Rio Grande do Norte, exceeds 90%, not only producing socio-spatial and socioeconomic conflicts, such as political-institutional. Thus, and for case analysis, the region of Seridó potiguar was chosen, which plays an important regional role in RNe and has historically been benefited by hydraulic policies and actions of living with the semiarid. Thus, due to the fact that the drought, in the middle of the 21st century, continues to take proportions of natural disaster causing widespread damage to the economy, the present research aims to offer an overview of the vulnerability of the Seridó region to the phenomenon of drought, starting from seven key municipalities, Bodó, Caicó, Currais Novos, Ipueira, Jardim de Piranhas, Jucurutu and Parelhas, for which the Drought Vulnerability Index (IVS) was applied, composed of the Lidara Exposure, Sensitivity and Capacity sub-indices from socioeconomic and physical variables Based on this, and based on the historical-political, physical-environmental and socioeconomic characteristics of the region in question, this research was structured in a systemic geographical approach, evolving the concepts of natural hazard, risk and vulnerability, in which, for the latter , its methodological application to drought in the Seridópotiguar was presented, and that by the obtained results, it was verified that the municipalities are exp drought, but that the available infrastructure and assistance actions, represented by Sensitivity and Adaptive Capacity, attenuate the averages of vulnerability of these.

Geodiversity is a recent concept related to the abiotic elements of nature, linked to the term biodiversity, which is more debated in the academic and social spheres. In this work, the development geodiversity in the apprehension of geomorphological elements, forming the geomorphodiversity which applied to the coastal environment, is characterized with the potential to identify singular forms, acting in geoconservation. In this sense, the present work aims to carry out the inventory, quantification and mapping of geoforms on the coast of Tibau, Grossos and Areia Branca / RN, also seeking a description of the evolution of the natural history of the geoforms in the area. In the present study, possible geomorphosites were identified, through the steps, evidence and quantification. In the field inventory, a survey of general information of the sites was developed, involving geomorphology, dissection features, among others, consolidating a database for the studied area. In the quantification, it was valued like the sites through four value criteria: Aesthetic (VEst), Scientific (VCi), Tourism (VTur) and Use and management (VUG). Consider, in this study, as geomorphosite those that obtained high scores in the Scientific Value (VCi) and/or Aesthetic Value (EST), namely: Apodi Mossoró Estuary, a São Cristóvão Beach and a Ponta do Mel Beach. Due to the results obtained, the inclusion of aesthetic criteria, and not just the scientific one, is relevant for the identification and definition of areas of potential geomorphological interest. We identified that there are areas with high aesthetic value, but with a significant reduction in scientific value, due to the lack of research covering the right areas. Corroborating the view that the aesthetic potential is representative for society and therefore must be included in geoconservation actions

The Healthy Cities Movement (HCM), emerged in the 1970s in Canada, as a corollary of a set efforts by this country, the World Health Organization (WHO) and its regional offices to outline estrategies of health promotion, quality of life, and urban development based on the concept of health as a social product. This conception is at the essence of the MCS, which reflects a change in the perspective of facing public health problems that worsened in the late 20th century. This conception is at the heart of the MCS and reflects a change in the perspective of dealing with public health problems that worsened in the late twentieth century. As a result of this new perspective international organizations, researchers and urban managers realized that investment in the health sector alone would not be enough to eliminate the harmful effects of factors that generate social inequalities and the precariousness of urban infrastructure (environmental factors) on the state of health and disease of the population. Therefore, the importance of the process of identification and characterization of socio-environmental factors in the urban space is highlighted through the construction of indexes and indicator systems. Based on these assumptions, this research has the main objective to analyze the Natal /RN city condition on the perspective of propose an index and levels of Healthy City. To achieve this purpose bibliographic research, documentary research, the production of graphics, charts and the application of the Multistributive Statistical Multiple Use Model (MAU) were used as methodological proceedings. The application of these proceedings identified an ICS of 694 and an Average Level of Healthy City for Natal, as results of the research. It was found that the ICS value was, to a large extent, positively influenced by the scores of the Health, Demographic and Basic Sanitation dimensions that reached high scores. However, it was the socioeconomic dimension that had the greatest impact on the index because of its low values, showing the socioeconomic inequality in Natal. Nevertheless, the analysis of these results demonstrates that the city of Natal still has significant vulnerabilities in terms of health, sewage and solid waste treatment, education, work and income. Considering these facts, it is understood that the city of Natal is still far from ensuring the health conditions and quality of life necessary to become a healthy city. This facts reaffirms the imminence of developing and strengthening actions, programs and public policies for the prevention and treatment of reportable diseases, for the elimination of arboviruses, to expansion of coverage of healthcare teams, medical procedures and infrastructures that integrate Primary Care. Measures to combat mortality, population imbalance and aging, articulated to initiatives of universalize basic sanitation and reduce precarious conditions of income, work and education, are equally relevant to promote in Natal city, healthier urban conditions in the future.

Antarctic Maritime, as a highly sensitive climate environment, represents a laboratory scenario for soil formation, expressing weathering processes and biogeochemistry under unique conditions on the planet, having as its primary engine the freezing / thawing processes, and primarily the presence permanently frozen soils, called permafrost. Antarctic soils are thus directly linked to thermal phenomena that cause ablation of glaciers, causing relief modeling processes and structured pedological implantation. Descriptive statistical analysis and the results of the principal component analysis demonstrated that Antarctic soils are shallow and incipient, however, ornithogenic soil are the deep soils, and bird activity is the most important chemical weathering chemical.

El fenómeno urbano ya ha sido pensado desde una enorme variedad de perspectivas y variados puntos de vista. Esta multiplicidad de miradas acompaña la complejidad que la constituye y nos ofrece un vasto campo de posibilidades de reflexión en el ámbito de la ciencia geográfica, especialmente en lo que se refiere a la construcción de un discurso sobre la dimensión espacial de la experiencia en la ciudad. Frente a este campo de posibilidades, acercamos la geografía y la filosofía deleuze-guattariana para pensar la ciudad en consonancia con las reflexiones sobre la noción de Rizoma. En este sentido, pretendemos centralmente reflexionar sobre la condición rizomática de la ciudad, partiendo de la idea de que la ciudad es una estructura rizomática, donde Natal-RN, el foco de nuestra observación, es evidencia de esta condición. Por tanto, nos dirigimos específicamente a la reflexión sobre la producción de líneas de segmentación - involucradas en ideales de orden y repetición - y líneas de fuga - involucradas en movimientos de ruptura y producción de diferencia - que cruza su constitución y que conduce a una multiplicidad de experiencias que lo ponen en un estado permanente de devenir. En relación a las líneas de segmentación en Natal-RN, nos enfocamos en abordar las repercusiones del discurso del modernismo en lo que concierne a la producción de deseos con miras al surgimiento de una ciudad moderna, y en la construcción de movimientos de identificación que pretenden homogeneizar la imagen de la ciudad, interna y externamente. En relación a las líneas de fuga, nos enfocamos en eventos / movimientos que ocurren ocasionalmente en diferentes lugares de la ciudad y que nos permiten pensar en procesos de desestratificación y deconstrucción relativa de las líneas de segmentación. Entendemos que la condición rizomática de la ciudad se da precisamente por la convivencia y dinámica de estas líneas. Inspirándose en la Teoría del Actor-Red, vista como una perspectiva metodológica adecuada para la observación y descripción de formaciones rizomáticas, la trama de estas discusiones se realiza aquí a través de un horizonte ensayístico, en el que el texto se convierte en un equivalente funcional del laboratorio: lugar de experimentación que presupone la unión de elementos y la mezcla de perspectivas y interpretaciones. Cada discusión realizada en el ámbito de este texto es parte de un esfuerzo por conectar informaciones producidas y captadas por una pluralidad de fuentes y apoyos que van desde conversaciones con residentes y agitadores culturales de Natal-RN, entrevistas y cuestionarios hasta la consideración de informes sobre redes sociales, análisis de obras literarias y materiales periodísticos. Finalmente, entendemos que la comprensión de la condición rizomática en la ciudad está íntimamente relacionada con la consideración de la dimensión rizomática de la propia ciencia geográfica.

The presentthesisisbased in threedifferentdimensionsofcontemporarygeography, that help ustounderstandthegeographicspace, territory, theplaces, thecities, startingfromthenotionsof: iconographyandcirculation, verticalitiesandhorizontalities, geographicsituation (site andsituation), justlike out notionsofcrossroadsor carrefours. Thesedimensionsofgeographicstudies are respectivelyrooted in textsby Jean Gottman, Milton Santos and Maria Laura Silveira. The main point ofourresearch inquires abouttherelationshipexistingbetweentheconditionof regional center takenby Mossoró and Sobral in the regional urbancontext in whichthey are insertedandtheprocessofcirculationandvaluationof local/regional iconography; ofhorizontalitiesandverticalitiesphenomenaandofthegeographicsituationofthecrossroad, and it aimstoexplainthespacialdifferentiation, utilizingthemethodicstudyoficonographies, circulation, horizontalitiesandverticalitiesand in thegeographicsituationofcrossroad as cornerstonesofthebuildingprocessof big regional centers such as Sobral and Mossoró thatdifferfromtheirsurroundings, nearandfar. Methodologywise, weutilizedananalyticveilthatismeanttobefullofcriticismand, byourjudgement, must bethe usual in anyworkwith a geographicandhumanistic profile, taking in consideration some importantassumptions, thatbeing: socio-spatialstructures in therelationbetweenthepartsandthewhole; the processes such as past, presentandproapectmaterialitiesoftheevents; theforms, as portraitsof reality, formingeachspatialarrangements; andfinally, the processes as thethingsoractivitiesthatformthe links betweenurbanizationandspatialdifferentiations. Wemadethechoice for thetypesofresearchthatpresentthefollowingtabulations: Concerningtheobject - primarilyscientific, per styleof approach - qualitativeconcerningthegoals - descriptiveandexplanatory. The choiceisjustifiedbythefactthatthey are in perfectaccordancewiththe social sciences, justlikegeography, andbyoffering more scopetotheinvestigation. However, thischoice does notmakethequantificationimpossible. It isnotabout a qual-quantitativeoption, becausetheemphasisthatdoesn'trenouncethequantity, isnotableonthequality. As such, weanchorouroption in thisinvestigative framework and its nuances. Abouttheoperationalizationofthepreviouslyanalyzedanddescribedformsofresearch, tothemwewill link thefollowingtechnical procedures: bibliographicalresearching, documentaryresearchingandfieldstudyresearching. The groupofanalysisweproposedtowillobey a view in whichwecaneasily monitor the abstract-formal elements( keydimensions for thisresearch) accordingwiththeempirical-concrete (uses oftheterritory - the role ofthird sector - regional center conditions - urban dynamics, amongothers). Allthisinvestigativeprocesswillbeputintopractice in thecitiesof Mossoró and Sobral, bythe point ofviewof material value(objects) andalsobytheexistentialvalue(actions).

Urbanization is an ancient process of humanity and one of the most discussed themes in Geography. However, the works that have discussed urbanization as a process that form cities and the rural and the urban as excluding are still frequent, thus reproducing some dichotomies that make it impossible to understand space as a totality. This dichotomous rural-urban conception generates territorial repercussions when considering the theoretical-methodological conceptions adopted by institutions and firms that work with planning. It is assumed that the urbanization of a certain portion of the territory is directly related to the uses and techniques that exist in it and, in this sense, when analyzing the reality of Rio Grande do Norte empirically, a rarefaction of urbanization in many areas. In addition, a process of capillarization of urban content throughout the territory is notorious, both in the countryside and in the city, but at different levels. The municipal government has attributed to the municipalities of Rio Grande do Norte a higher level of urbanization than they actually have, and in some cases has ignored the coexistence of rural content. The acceptance of a higher level of urbanization than the state actually presents, has served as a strategy to increase the profitability of the real estate sector. And, it has caused the land to become more expensive in different areas, the exclusion of rural workers from economic and social policies, and the precarious insertion in the territory of a considerable part of the population of Rio Grande do Norte. From this perspective, the general objective of this research is to analyze the different technical levels of urbanization of the territory in Rio Grande do Norte, considering the rural-urban complementarity, and the territorial repercussions of considering different areas of the same with a greater urbanization density than that they actually present. For this, an urbanization index was created based on the indicative elements of urbanization to measure its different technical levels. Field and documentary research, analysis of primary and secondary data and spatial descriptive analysis with classification of satellite images were also carried out, in order to identify the evolution of urbanization in Rio Grande do Norte over three pre-selected periods, as well as intra-municipal differences. With this, it can be seen that, despite the urban content having spread throughout the territory of Rio Grande do Norte, especially from the emergence of the technical scientific informational environment, which has been effective in the State, in fact, from the 1990s onwards, a large part of the municipalities of Rio Grande do Norte still present low technical density, and therefore, a rarefaction of urban content. This fact reveals that just classifying the parcels of territory into rural and urban are not enough for purposes of planning and management of the territory, it is necessary to assess the density of this urbanization to think about social and territorial policies that contribute to the promotion of social justice, development and to alleviate the great abyss resulting from the accentuated social inequality historically reproduced and neglected by the public policies implemented in the state.

The terrestrialvegetation cover haslongarousedtheinterestofhumanity, which in thecourseof time hasturnedto it in differentways for theknowledgeof its biological, ecologicalandgeographicalcharacteristics, in additiontodiscoveringthepotential for its exploration. In themidstofthisconstellationofinterests, Cartographyarrives in the 20th centuryconsolidated as animportanttechnical tool for reading, interpretingandplanningland cover, serving in theidentificationoffloristicgroupsandtheirexplanation in conjunctionwiththeotherspatialelements, startingfromthisservingthecurrentchallengeofaddressingtheneeds for use andpreservation. Markingseveraloccasions in thecourseofthatcentury, thevegetationmapsof Rio Grande do Norte preparedbyinstitutionssuch as the IOCS(worksagainstdroughts), the SUDENE (regional planning), RADAMBRASIL, mapping of natural resources;amongothers, they are a reflectionandprocessofthissearch for knowledge for plannedaction. In viewofthis, thisdissertationwasbasedontheobjectiveofanalyzingthehistoricalcartographyelaboratedbytheseofficialinstitutions, discussingtheirinfluences in theterritory. Tothisend, a multi-referentialmethodologicalbasiswasestablished, composedofthepreceptsoftheHistoryofCartography, in theanalysisofthecontextofancientmaps, andofGeospatialAnalysis, appliedto Landsat productsobtained in thelast 16 yearsofthecentury. The examinationofthecartographic set presentedthevegetationmaps as partofthetechnicalenvironment, whichsheds light ontheelementsofinteresttosociety, whethereconomicorecological, whilethecontoursoftheanthropizationprocess are alsorecorded. In viewofthis, theempiryalsoreaffirmedtheepistemologicalandtheoreticaldimensionsofcartography - respectivelyrelatedtoknowledgeandinterpretationandanalysis -, sinceboththeoldpiecesandthoseelaborated for thestudysupportedthegeographicreflectionofthe socio-environmental processes, allowingtheunderstandingthetransformationsandrestructuringthathaveoccurred in certainplaces in theterritoryof Rio Grande do Norte, whosereflections are observed in thelandscapeand in theregion, butwhich in territorial management allowthemtobethoughtof as a resourceand tool.

Wetlands are terrestrial and aquatic environments, periodically flooded by freshwater, brackish or saline, being of natural or artificial origin, continental or coastal. Occurring in almost all parts of the globe, in Brazil, coastal ecosystems are well distributed, representing 20% of the territory, due to the local physical conditions. Therefore, the research is based on the problem that, in Brazil, the occupation of the coastal zone constitutes a serious risk and commitment to the services rendered by the coastal ecosystems, specifically in the semi-arid coast of the country, being verified the occurrence of a great diversity of wetlands, such as coastal / estuarine (eg. mangroves, lagoons, ponds) or artificial (eg. solar salt). The estuarine complex of the Piranhas-Açu River, located between the municipalities of Macao and Port of Mangue in the state of Rio Grande do Norte is one of the areas that plays an important role due to the diversity of coastal wetlands that configure the landscape being these ecosystems responsible for providing many ecosystem services to the well-being of local human communities. Ecosystem services (SE) are the ability of the ecosystem to offer goods or services to man, either directly (tangible) or indirect (intangible), for the sake of his or her well-being. Based on this conception, this study has as main focus to evaluate the dynamics of the ecosystem services provided by the wetlands in the Piranhas-Açu river estuarine zone, from the identification and characterization of land use and land cover in the last 50 years. This period of half a century is highlighted by the beginning of intense changes in the landscape in the estuarine zones of the northern coast, mainly with the construction of extensive areas for shrimp farming, followed by the expansion and mechanization of the saline activity. Finally, this study seeks to evaluate the commitment of these services based on the use and land cover. The methodology used to carry out the research counts in the initial phase with the assembly of a theoretical matrix that assists in the development of scientific research, followed by multitemporal mapping of wetlands, which will be assisted by the geographic information system and the on-site visits to verify the accuracy of the most recent mapping, as well as the classification of identified macrohabitats, based on the study of Junk et al. (2014), being classified according to the hydrogeomorphological and phytophysiomic features. For the classification of ecosystem services will be used CICES - The Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services, which divides services into provision, maintenance/regulation and cultural. The identified and classified services will be spatialized according to the methodology of Burkhard et al. (2017), making it possible to identify the main areas with the highest production of services. In order to evaluate the commitment of ecosystem services and to contribute to spatial planning in these areas, the qualitative environmental assessment methodology that will be used is the DPSIR model. As preliminary results, five coastal ecosystems were identified, among them: estuary, coastal lagoons, mangrove, apicuns (hypersaline plain with salt field) and solar salt, where it can be seen that most of the territory is represented by solar salt, while natural ecosystems have a more localized pattern of occupation.Given this, it is believed that through this research, it is possible to contribute with a greater knowledge about the wetlands located in coastal zones under semi-arid climate, as well as serve as a support for consultation during the elaboration and / or implementation of public policies of territorial planning and coastal management in these areas.

The formation of areas at risk of disasters has been taking place historically in Brazilian society since, given the territorial exclusion and the reality of segregation, new alternatives for popular housing appear in spaces that are little used or not used in human occupation. The São José do Jacó Community, located in Natal / RN - Brazil, is considered an area of risk of mass movements by the Municipal Civil Defense, being marked by the occurrence of interdictions of residences, resistance of some families, tension between community and management, holding of public hearings, collapse of residences, proposals for eviction. Starting from the absence of studies on a scale of detail and the idea of understanding the elements and processes that condition the situation, the research had as main objective: analyze the elements and processes responsible for the spatial translation of the risk of mass movement in the São José do Jacó community, considering from space occupation to Disaster Risk Management, contributing to decision making. The methodology is based on procedures and techniques that allow analysis on a detailed scale, through the use of indicators to elaborate the indexes of exposure, social vulnerability and risk (InEX, InV and InRISK). The methodology is divided into four phases: I) About knowing and characterizing, with field activities and geoprocessing procedures; II) About indicators and statistical standards, with selection / systematization of indicators and valuation of elements; III) About the indices, with the calculations; IV) About characterizing disaster risk management, through direct contact with public management. The results presented and discussed the products developed through the research, helping to understand the problem, they were: competency framework (Union, States and Municipalities), slope map, sector profiles, risk classification map, framework with critical and positively potential indicators existing in the community, profile of the performance of the Municipal Civil Defense in Disaster Risk Management, block diagram with proposed risk reduction measures, detailed tables of proposals. The products can be considered tools for public management, more precisely for Disaster Risk Management - DRM, given that the results indicated the priority areas for monitoring and implementing the Disaster Risk Reduction measures - DRR proposed by this research. Finally, the considerations presented the challenges and advances of the research, highlighted important aspects and indicated the possibility of a scenario in which the safe permanence of the residents of the community is a priority in decision making

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The morphopedological approach when using the soil-relief-geology relationship of a given area enables the understanding of the landscape structure, serving as a basis for implementing environmental policies for land use and occupation. Study area comprises the municipality of Bom Jesus, State of Rio Grande do Norte, located in an area of geopedoclimatic transition, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, comprising a context where information on the physical environment, on a regional scale, cannot meet the level of detail demanded by environmental management at the scale of the place. In this context, the objective of the present work is to carry out a morphopedological analysis of the municipality of Bom Jesus-RN, based on the methodology of Castro and Salomão (2000), with field surveys, laboratory and mapping of units in a GIS environment. Three subclasses of QUARTZARENIC NEOSOLS and one of CHROMIC LUVISOLS were identified. The combination of soil-relief-geology enabled the compartmentalization into four morphopedological units, with surfaces ranging from flat to smoothly wavy. The use and occupation of the land identified eight classes: short cycle crops 50.53%, grasses / pastures 18.09%, sparse Caatinga 18.96%, dense Caatinga 1.50% and hydrography with 2.64% of the municipal area. In view of the results presented, it was verified the importance of understanding the morphogenetic processes and their classification, as well as the uses associated with the compartments. Thus, in addition to contributing to a better understanding of the geology-soil-relief relationship in the landscape structure, the perspective of this work is to enable subsidies for decision making by public managers in the planning and territorial management of the municipality.

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Precipitation is the most important climatic variable when it is intended to understand the dynamics of the surface structure of the landscape and the consequences for different human activities. The events capable of causing major changes in the system are the extremes, defined by atypically high or low values considering an interval of observations. The Potengi River Basin, the study area, is located in Rio Grande do Norte and covers 18 municipalities, including the state capital. The methodology is based on quantitative procedures and techniques, such as kriging (spatialization) and Gumbel (return time) methods, in addition to qualitative analysis, in the definition of landscape units. The results show that there is a significant spatio-temporal variation in rainfall in the different compartments. Regarding the maximum events, it was possible to verify that climatological phenomena of precipitation with high magnitude are frequent in a short period of time. Finally, landscape units (altitude swamp, semi-arid, wild and rainy board) were defined, using precipitation as the main element.

From the mid-2000s, the cellulose production spatial circuit expanded in Mato Grosso do Sul,
especially in its eastern region. In less than a decade, the expansion of this circuit inserted the
referred state among the main producers of eucalyptus and cellulose in Brazil, in addition to
making it the main exporter of cellulose. In this context, the general objective of this research
is to understand the use of the territory by the spatial circuit of cellulose production in Mato
Grosso do Sul, as well as its economic, social and environmental deployments. From the
methodological procedures adopted, it was found that the expansion of the cellulose
production space circuit in Mato Grosso do Sul is the result of the new territorial division of
labor linked to paper production, characterized, on a global scale, by the transference of
forestry and cellulose production - initial steps of paper production - from the countries of the
North to the countries of the South and, on the national scale, by the interiorization of forestry
and cellulose production. It is understood that the choice of the eastern region of Mato Grosso
do Sul for the expansion of the surveyed circuit occurred due to the combination of eight
factors, being the state action, at the federal, state and municipal instances, the most
preponderant due to the creation of ideal conditions, especially from an economic, normative
and infrastructural point of view, for the corporate use of the territory of Mato Grosso do Sul
by the companies producing cellulose. Furthermore, another aspect that deserves mentioning
refers to the geographical multiscale of the investigated circuit. This is because, despite the
transference of the initial steps of paper production from the countries of the North to those of
the South, the former remain the major suppliers of technologies for the cellulose projects
installed in the latter, in addition to being among the main consumers of the cellulose
produced in these. This context demonstrates that the productive spatial circuit of cellulose in
Mato Grosso do Sul is articulated from different scales, from the global to the local, through
material and immaterial flows of different orders, contents and intensities. Articulation made
possible by well-defined circles of cooperation in space, which, based on the verticalities of
the global market, contribute to the insertion of logics external to the place, causing various
deployments in the city, in the countryside and in the labor market, which reveal the
counterproductive character of the studied circuit, in addition to evidence its social and
environmental dimensions, which are fundamental for understanding the totality of a
productive spatial circuit, especially those intensive in natural resources.

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In our everyday life, we observe the landscape changes that have been taking in Nova Parnamirim in the last ten years. We realized, mainly, the growth in the number of condominiums with vertical buildings. This fact motivated us to make a research about this process observed in the neighborhood landscape. We start from the hypothesis that the verticalization process in Nova Parnamirim is a continuity of the production of the urban space and the verticalization process in Natal. In this perspective, we ask: what are the strategies and practices of the economic, political and social agents that make the verticalization process in Nova Parnamirim a continuity in the space-time of the process of the production of the urban space of Natal? In this context, this thesis has the general objective of understanding the process of verticalization in Nova Parnamirim as a continuity of the production of the urban space and the verticalization of Natal, through strategies and practices, at different scales, of economic, political and social agents. For this understanding, we highlight the montage, development and deployment of the verticalization process in Nova Parnamirim. The partial results show that the montage of the verticalization in Nova Parnamirim is in the production of the space and the verticalization in Natal, began in an incipient way in the decade of 1930, becoming more expressive in the landscape in the end of the decade of 1960. From the decade of 1990 saw the start of the verticalization process in Nova Parnamirim. On the one hand, this process had a continuity and an expansion after the world economic crisis of 2008. On the other hand, this process became discontinuous after the urban, political and economic crisis that has been taking in Brazil since 2013. The developments in this process show the "heteronomous discourse" of the residents and of the socio-spatial representations of vertical condominiums. In the same way, verticalization unfolds in the "self-segregation" of the residents and the "metropolitan social-spatial fragmentation". A final deployment refers to the "urban pedagogy" produced by verticalization, contrary to the "right to the city", "socio-spatial justice" and "urban development".

Violence is the result and social process that weaves relationships in large cities. The city, nuanced in violence, is (re) refragmenting and (re) articulating from the simultaneous actions and reactions of the Population, State and Crime segments. This time, the hypothesis is that violence in Natal, considered in recent years as one of the most violent capitals in Brazil, forms territories that interfere in the (re) fragmentation of the urban fabric and deteriorate its space. These territories are characterized by being dispersed, not always presenting borders, but they make use of and are present in space, which hinders the action of the State and the population, which tend to operate spatially with the localized bias, by zone. Thus, considering specific and specific problems, it disregards the urban fabric as the whole city used by violence. From this perspective, we seek to understand the violence in Natal and its spatial dimension, considering the Territories of Violence, in the interstice 2012 - 2018. This objective unfolds in specific actions, such as: 1) identifying the spatial factors that contribute to the territorialization of crime; 2) reflect on the process of configuring the territories of violence enmeshed by the agents involved in it; 3) map the actions of crime in the urban fabric of Natal; 4) analyze these territories considering the (re) incidence of homicides and thefts / thefts of vehicles registered in all neighborhoods in the state capital. In this context, the data regarding crime in Natal, provided by the State Secretariat for Public Security and Social Defense (SESED), the survey of journalistic articles published in the media and the use of Spatial Statistics for the production of crime cartography, confirmed that the neighborhoods of Alecrim, Candelária, Capim Macio, Igapó, Lagoa Azul, Mãe Luíza, Neópolis, Nossa Senhora da Presentation, Pajuçara and Potengi have a high recurrence of homicide and theft / vehicle theft crimes when appearing more than once in our analysis as a territory with a high concentration of violent actions; bring together a greater likelihood of the citizen being a victim of homicide, theft / theft of vehicles by enabling the overlap of violence actions that generate different territorialities engendered by the use of power to control areas of the city from criminal actions. These neighborhoods, having their material base used and appropriated by crime, whether dispersed or concentrated by the action of violence that resonates in the urban fabric, suffered high tensions in the city space from actions that oppose the performance of the security forces and the constituted legal power. When configured as territories of violence, they promoted a new (re) fragmentation of the urban space and strained the weave of the daily plot in the city of Natal.

Geography is a saying of the world, a way of narrating the human experience on Earth, a geographical narrative. Therefore, artistic languages, understood as manifestations and expressions of geographicity, gain prominence in geographic studies, as they are capable of promoting reflections about the human-world relationship, main concern of the cultural approach of Geography. This understanding accentuated and renewed the relationship between geographic science and different artistic languages. Currently, film works, which already have a long history of contribution to Geography, are invited to collaborate in reflections on the human experience on Earth and talks about space. In effect, films, artistic language of a narrative and visual nature, are understood as geographies and as ways of saying the experience of human beings in the world. Therefore, in a time marked by the cinematography of the world and the return to the imaginary, we chose to understand the relations of geographies in the films of the trilogy The Lord of Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002) and The Return of the King (2003). For this, we discuss the narrative nature of Geography and Eric Dardel's notion of geographicity. We also elaborated a theoretical discussion about the Geography-Cinema dialogue, opting for the idea of spreading the two fields of knowledge. Along with the bibliographic search, the methodology is composed of hermeneutical interpretations of film elements. The thesis proposes to overcome the theoretical-methodological bases of the Geography-Cinema relationship, founded on a mimetic bias, that sees film as a copy of reality, or on an archaeological bias, that conceives film as a mask of the world. Under the inspiration of the phenomenological-existential approach connected with the discursive matrices of the landscape, we propose that the geographical meanings are constructed in the landscape-geographer encounter. This is personalized and mixes thoughts, affections, imaginations and all elements of the landscape. Such proposal is supported by congeniality, interexpression and breaks with the previous dichotomous views, promoting a perspective of coexistences, the “spreading” bias. This bias unites elements, formerly considered opposites, such as: science and art; reason and imagination; subjectivity and objectivity; sign and meaning. The conclusion then is that, as a legend of the world and narrative of geographies, the trilogy The Lord of the Rings reveals discourses about rooting, mobility and care for the Earth.

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Mega events, such as the Olympic Games, may cause countless problems when organized by underdeveloped or developing countries like Brazil, because in these countries the supply of services is not yet sufficient developed and only a limited range of the local population derives benefits from the investments. We find that the most vulnerable groups suffer from the negative effects of such events, such as the expropriations and expulsions of the population residing in the areas of interest for the event, like what happened to the communities in the geographic study areas of Rio de Janeiro, concerned: Aldeia Maracanã, Vila Autódromo, Morro da Providência and Favela do Metrô-Mangueira. Such selective dynamics clearly accentuate the inequalities between the population of a given territory and the rest of the inhabitants, thereby increasing territorial and social imbalances. The general objective of the thesis is to understand the corporate use of the territory and the perception of part of the local population of Rio de Janeiro in the context of the 2016 Olympic Games. In order to have it done, we identify the main elements and actors involved in the spatial scenario of the mega-event. In addition, we access the impacts and legacies at the socio-territorial level of material and immaterial character. We also identify the changes that occurred in the daily life of citizens after the completion of the 2016 Olympic Games with regard to the perception of the inhabitants of Rio de Janeiro in relation to this mega-event. The key geographic concept that is addressed in this research is the concept of territory. We intend to understand the territory based on the theory of geographic space of Milton Santos. The key concept of territory is supported and seconded by the concept of "territory used", suggested by Santos and Silveira. The "territory used" consists of a series of objects and actions acting on it mainly by hegemonic agents such as the State and the City Council of Rio de Janeiro, large national and multinational companies and sports organizations. In addition, we consider the territorial configuration to which all of what is fixed and materialized belongs, such as the infrastructures and objects that make up the geographic space and which determine actions on the territory. Regarding the understanding of the imagination and the perception of the local population in certain areas of the carioca city, we mainly rely on the theories and categories of analysis of Gilbert Durand such as, in particular, the « mythodology » which in turn consists of « mythocriticism » and « mythanalysis ». From an empirical point of view and research procedures, during the various field work in the geographical study areas in Rio de Janeiro, we mainly opted for ethnographic techniques such as: direct and participating observation, structured interviews with the main leaders and community groups, and especially the analysis of the speeches and content from their testimonies. Following this qualitative research, it is clear that the cariocas have the impression that the mega-events were not organized to promote socio-spatial justice in their city. It turned out that the mega-events in Rio de Janeiro are actually mega-businesses, involving large sums of money. In fact, we witness the subordination of investments to major interests linked to mega-events. The mega-events were not the promoters of the changes that took place in Rio de Janeiro, but they were a pretext for them. As for the perception of the population, we realized in our research that a good part of the inhabitants of Rio de Janeiro feel frustrated and all the planning and organization of the event could have taken place according to a different logic and dynamics.

The present work was elaborated in an attempt to produce a picture that exposes the geographic face of the daily life of the itinerant workers of Redinha, Meio and Ponta Negra beaches, in the city of Natal (RN). In this sense, we used the category of territoriality analysis, which involves the multiple dimensions of the human being and their relationship with the space in which they live. Initially, theoretical reflections from the areas of Anthropology, Social Sciences, Tourism and Economics were used, fundamental for an understanding of the daily life of these workers in the informal beach trade, firstly discussing the territorialities and then what is the trade informal. Aiming to approach this day to day and of this human geography, field activities were developed during twelve months (fieldwork that took place in fifty days), which were fundamental for the development of observations and dialogues with the itinerant, employing essentially the field diary, listening, dialogues and photographic records. Throughout these fieldwork, some aspects were emphasized: the home-work relationship; or lived; daily life on the beach; spatial organization on the beach; conflicts and territorial disputes; participation and political representation of street vendors; creativity and leisure of the street vendors; acquisition of goods, among others. Throughout the dissertation were used resources such as photographs, cartograms and speeches, which aim to synthesize and exemplify the facts found. At the end of the study there is a set of cartograms of synthesis and comparative analysis between the beaches of Redinha, Meio and Ponta Negra.

Living in cities means living on the movement. On the daily comings and goings, from one place to another, we cross the multiplicity that produces the space, we make trajectories by meeting the landscapes that touch our desire. By the movement through the streets, the citizens give meaning to their existence, perceive details and fragments, affect themselves in different intensities, get to know and develop spatial abilities. The spatiality of objects and actions acts on the production of visibilities, the relations between location, symbolism and significations, they also reverberate in the perceptions of the scenes on display. The public transport by bus, inserted in the spatial plot of the urban mobility, offers trajectories for the movement between the places, it interposes glances by the window frames and interferes in the spatial experiences by enabling and sometimes limiting the space of life. Bus routes and bus lines make the subjects to map through the landscapes perceived on the streets. The relationship between body and city reveals the geography embodied in the trajectories of the subjects in the buses. This dissertation aims to understand the relationship between urban mobility and perception of the landscape in the daily trajectories of the inhabitants of North Zone, East and South Zone of Natal, RN. The geographical interpretation under the directions of the phenomenological method was the chosen path for the theoretical and practical construction of the research. We start with a bibliographic review on the concepts of landscape, space and place; mobility and trajectories. We also carried out field work on buses and on the streets producing graphic, photographic and audiovisual records; in the field and street diaries we systematized the descriptions of the experiences; we announced the research through the urban intervention "See the city in motion" and we used social networks to meet the residents of the North Zone; in the interviews, we had the sharing of the mappings resulting from the mobility experiences. From the reports we constructed narratives, a way of describing the perceptions and situations that compose the trajectories in the buses of the inhabitants of the North Zone. At the end of this expedition, the city presents itself as a map of overlapping images, affectivities, and reminders of city dwellers. It indicates one of the ways to figure out the experience of the city inhabitant.

In the scope of research on ecosystem services (SE), the Brazilian semiarid has been approached by important surveys, but for the Caatinga Biome the information is still scarce. Still in relation to the Caatinga, this one presents / displays a diversity of environments that confer to her physiognomies and heterogenous vegetal formations, and of the diverse environments, it is emphasized, in the present research, to the serranos environments. With regard to the production of knowledge about the ecosystem services provided by its vegetation cover, the situation is a gap, given the scarcity of studies and / or data. In this worrisome context is inserted the Serra do João do Vale (RN / PB), a solid mass capped by the arenite formation of Martins and covered by the Caatinga and fragments of tropical rain forest seasonally dry, being unknown, for the vegetal cover, its services ecosystems. Thus, the main objective was to evaluate the ecosystem services provided by the vegetation cover in the João do Vale mountain range (RN / PB). The interpretations of the paleoenvironmental conditions of the northern Northeast semiarid allow us to infer that the Caatinga physiognomy oscillated between savannas with conditions to maintain a pleistocene megafauna and forest physiognomies between 42,000 years AP and 11,800 years AP, and it is inferred that the study area presented variations. His current physiognomy is the result of human actions that began in the eighteenth century. The shrub caatinga (191.8 km2) and the arboreal Caatinga (39.4 km2) presented distribution pattern covering slopes and crystalline escarpments, and their structures are strongly influenced by human action and ecological succession. The seasonally dry rainforest (21.8 km2), initially located on the plateaus, was devastated, leaving only a few fragments on slopes and steeper slopes and on small plateaus. Considerable portion of these fragments are in the succession stage. As for the ecosystem services provided by the vegetation cover more directly to the community, emphasis is given to the SE of Provision and SE Culturalis, which had information obtained directly to its residents. It was concluded that allied to the phytosionomies of the study area provide important, ecosystem services for the well-being of the local human communities (mainly the SE of Regulation and Maintenance), where the approach used in this research provided high potential auxiliary and support decision-making regarding ecosystem conservation, as well as actions for environmental awareness and education.

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This dissertation is about the production of the urban space in the Northern Administrative Region of Natal-RN from the insertion of fortified enclaves under the perspective of vertical condominiums, from 2005 to 2018. These enclaves have emerged as "safe" forms of living in the city, once in contemporary urban insecurity, constant fear and location appear as the main reason individuals choose to reside in multi-family spaces rather than in single-family homes. Thus, these types of properties have arisen in the capitalist city as a strategy used by the real estate market and agents producers to appropriate the spaces of the cities and to reproduce their capital with a view to obtaining the profits and surpluses these typologies may offer. In this way, it's aimed to analyze the socio-spatial transformations occurring in the morphology and the urban landscape from the insertion of these new spatial forms in the mentioned administrative region; establish and interpret the relationships between the main housing programs and the production of housing in the study area; and, finally, to describe the developers' and consumers' profile of these vertical ventures. For this purpose, the methodological procedures adopted in this work consisted of bibliographic research, survey of primary and secondary data in public and private agencies, field research, interviews and application of forms with landowners, developers, real estate developers and public agency representatives. The activities analysis of the agents producing in the Northern Administrative Region of Natal with the construction of fortified enclaves expose important changes in the landscape and the urban morphology because they stand out to the detriment of the other forms of occupation, showing us the tendencies of the new uses of the soil to the at the same time as it reveals inequality, selectivity and socio-spatial fragmentation, once these dwellings have not benefited all social classes as housing programs advocate.

In the last decades the discussions on climate change have increased significantly. Within this theme, the oscillations in the average level of the oceans are well studied, due to the fact that the coastal zones have high occupancy rates, for both housing and service purposes, of the most varied types. In a current scenario of climate change, several problems are already being highlighted worldwide due to changes in the global climate. The municipality of Macau - RN is located in the Northern Coast of the state of Rio Grande do Norte and is one of the country's largest salt producers, accounting for almost 90% of the national production. Despite its dynamic economy, the population of the municipality suffers the consequences of natural events such as tidal and flood variations caused by rainfall, storm surges and tides, because they are in a situation of socio-environmental vulnerability, or occupy areas of intense dynamics and environmental fragility or the fact that they are living in poor housing, both in terms of structure and location. Thus, the objective of this research is to spatialize the socioenvironmental vulnerability of some areas of the municipality, based on the exposure of the population to variations in mean sea level and floods. In order to do so, the mapping of the area in a large scale of details will be done, so that it is possible to elaborate medium and long term predictive scenarios, which will serve as a subsidy for the analysis of the degree of exposure of the municipality, in addition to the production of indicators that can respond in a more reliable way to the reality of the place, the questions related to the categories of susceptibility, responsiveness and adaptive capacity, which will be of great importance for the evaluation of the vulnerability of the place.

The nationalterritoryismodifiedbythestatefollowing a defined territorial logic, whichisruledbytheinterestsofhegemonicagentsandensuresthehegemonyoftheseentities. In other words, the state provides the conditions for creating and recreating strategies to foster an expanded production and reproduction of capital. Currently, science, technique and information control the production, use of objects and determine actions and standards. Technical objects have an important role to fulfill, since they are created to accomplish determined tasks in addition to carrying intentionality. In this regard, the certification of organic production revealed the strategies adopted by hegemonic agents to produce and reproduce capital widely, selectively and unequally through the speeches of environmental preservation and protection of the agroecological agricultural practices. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the different uses of the territory of Rio Grande do Norte based on practices of agroecology and organic agriculture in terms of technical-scientific and informational progress. In addition, it is intended to reflect on how the standardizations imposed by the state, companies and international organizations contribute to the exclusion of small farmers and hamper the implementation of agroecological proposals and actions. The standardization of organic production is harmful to non-hegemonic agents, since it is selective and exclude small farmers who do not have enough financial capital to meet such regulation. Although successful experiences were performed based on agroecological practices, many products that are available in the industry as agroecological are actually organic agricultural products, which are identified by consumers through a certification seal. Agroecological discourse has been appropriated by the capital and incorporated by organic agriculture, which is characterized as a niche of capital expansion. In order to assess the different agricultural uses of the territory of Rio Grande do Norte, a bibliographic analysis was adopted as methodological procedure using secondary and primary data, which was gathered through interviews conducted with the subjects involved in the problem under discussion.

Planning and management of the territory goes through legislative paths supported by the Master Plan and application of land cover mapping methodologies to municipal planning, where climate seasonality directly interferes with physical and socioeconomic aspects in Brazilian Semiarid. In this context, realizing the lack of information on land cover and the difficulty of municipalities to have a cartographic basis to aid municipal planning, it is suggested a low-cost alternative to obtain information on land surface. Thus, the present study aims to propose a large-scale land classification methodology for municipalities in Brazilian Semiarid Region that can be generated with low-cost Remote Sensing products, using the municipality of Serra Negra do Norte-RN as an experiment. Thus, it were used hybrid images from the fusion of Sentinel 1 satellites with radar images and Sentinel 2 with multispectral images in 843RGB (red, green, blue) color composition in rainy and dry semiarid period. Four hybrid images were obtained, two with VH polarization and the others with VV polarization, respectively in rainy and dry periods. The dates of Sentinel 1 and 2 images were chosen according to the precipitation occurred in 2016. For Digital image processing used free software SNAP 6.0, QGIS 218.16 and Terraview 5.3.1 with the GeoDMA (Geographic Data Mining Analyst) plugin for object-oriented classification. Thus, the results obtained from Kappa for the land cover mapping with the four hybrid images classified in the VH channel polarization (Vertical-horizontal) that had better accuracy was for the rainy season with the value of 0.34 and 0.35 for the dry period. While Kappa values for VV (verticalvertical) channel were 0.25 for rainy month and 0.31 for dry season, indicating the mapping as reasonable. To the detriment of this, it is pointed out that the classification originated from hybrid images in VH channel had better accuracy, although the hybrid images with VV polarization presented better the land cover classes in the map. Thus, the land cover map in dry period is indicated due to the accuracy pointed out, but it must be taken into account that from rainy season in the Brazilian Semiarid there is the green (Caatinga) vegetation more evident, and the increase of temporary and perennial springs.

The work is part of the research carried out in the main roads of the Campina Grande trade expansion, in the interior of Paraíba, Northeast Brazil. Our objective is to understand the restructuring of commerce and services in main roads of this city, by the discussion of space production. For this, we’re based on the Production of Space Theory, created by the French philosopher Henri Lefebvre, that analises social relations in the space. Our text intends to engender reflections about our object of study based on this theory. For theoretical and methodological support, Henri Lefebvre's (1999) propositions of regressive-progressive method were used. The description of the studied areas were made, in order to return to the past to understand some occurred transformations. After that, back to the presente scenario, we can dialectically understand the perspectives and projections of our object of study. As a central hypothesis, our thesis assumes that expansionism of peripheral comercial areas occurs through the main road axes, by continuous extension from the tertiary activities (from 1999 to 2019) that have helped to structure the socio-spatial dynamics. We found important changes in the urban space. As consequence of the space production, the roads that had residential characteristics, are under intense reformulations by commercial road axes. As methodological procedures, we fulfill a survey about the use of the following roadways of trade expansion: Manoel Gonçalves Guimarães; Floriano Peixoto; Severino Bezerra Cabral; Manoel Tavares and Assis Chateaubriand. Commercial restructuration occur in the process of commercial decentralization, that has intensified in last years by commercial enterprises has been installed in these roads, changing the functions, uses and the social composition of these avenues.

This work deals with the process of production of space and touristic phenomenon in Costa do Dendê, Bahia, Brazil, having as the central discussion the debate about textures, polyphonies and interdictions within this process. The theoretical framework in this thesis is based in with Lefebvre’s theory on the reading of the production of space process and its conceived/ perceived/ lived triad. This discussion refers to space as a product of the reproduction of life and of the capitalist production in terms of an uneven and combined development; a theme that involves conceptions and actions about geographical space and which confers values, regarding Marx’s perspective on the use and the exchange of value. In this case, tourism planning has direct consequences on the reproduction of this phenomenon in its materiality, uses and appropriations. It also includes other possible achievements in space and their materiality/practices and isotopic/heterotopic/utopian uses, being loaded with intentionality, as presented in the Costa do Dendê. Based on this assumption, the Costa do Dendê’s region presents a vast field for the analysis of material and social morphologies present in the process of (re)production of the geographical space, of which the tourism phenomenon is part; enabling through the experiences present in this universe of analysis, (re) think planning and actions that address social justice. The starting point of the debate is the recognition of the diversity that makes up the geographical space (and its production) in its multiple scales, which in the case study of Costa do Dendê permeates the regional and the municipal and it is about the tourist phenomenon. This thesis’ chapters refer to the triadic movement to analyze the process of producing space in Costa do Dendê, passing through the analysis of the process of valorization of space, mediated by the exchange / use / value relationship; culminating in the analysis of the spatial instances (conceived / perceived / lived), directing the analyzes of how the (re) production of Costa do Dendê has been taking place, as well as the projection of scenarios, contextualized through discussions about isotopy, heterotopia and utopia. Thus, the intention here is to answer: on what basis is the tourist phenomenon performed in the process of production the geographical space of Costa do Dendê? What are the possibilities concerning actions which are directed to the heterotopic plan, regarding uneven geographical development? The analysis presented here confirmed the hypothesis that such phenomenon, in its entirety in the process of production of geographic space, reproduces cohesion in different morphologies and appropriations, configuring isotopes, heterotopias and the possibilities of transformation by the human capacity to project others futures, expressed in the different logics of planning and reflection of such practices in the plan of life, of encounters and disagreements between tourists and indigenous people, of state and business action. These readings were performed through the observation of isotopic, heterotopic and utopian materiality’s and practices, which follow, respectively, unitary and diverse logics, directly linked to capitalist action and social reproduction; an approach contextualized here with the study of the tourism phenomenon in Costa do Dendê’s region.

Public security is today one of the major national problems, and among the main crimes that have the greatest impact on the population is bank robbery. This occurs due not only to the violence that is inherent to it, but also to the direct impact of such crime on the ordinary activities on small towns’ populations, especially of Brazilian Northeast Region. These people are forced to go to distant towns for the simplest activities, due to the great importance of banking services that characterizes the technical period scientific informational. We will analyze how the main actors involved, police forces, criminal organizations and banking network manages the territory. Our analysis will take place on the geographic cut composed by the states of Pernambuco, Paraíba, Rio Grande do Norte and Ceará, and it will aim to identify the characteristics of the geographic space studied that impacts directly on the high incidence of such crime. We will use as a theoretical basis the concept of Milton Santos' geographic space and the foundations of environmental criminology, in order to point out public policy actions that make repression of such crime more effective.

Geodiversitycorrespondstothevarietyofgeologicalenvironments, phenomenaandactive processes thatgeneratelandscapes, rocks, minerals, fossilsandothersurfacedepositsthatformthebasis for lifeon Earth.The integrationofbioticandabioticcomponentsis still underdeveloped, both in thescientificenvironmentand in the management leveloftheterritory.Thisismainlyduetothelackofattentiontotheabioticelements as finite natural resourcesduetotheirdeteriorationprocess in themediumorlong term. It is in theenvironmentalprotectionscenariothatwe show Geodiversity in coastalenvironments, which are fragileanddynamicareas, sincethey are in situationsoftransitionbetweenthecontinentandthesea. In thiscontext, thecoastalenvironmentofthesoutheastern sector oftheIslandof Maranhão, whichiscurrentlyconsideredoneoftheurbanexpansionareasoftheIsland, hasfewstudiesfocusedon its geo-environmental dynamics, whichiscomposedof a differentiated dynamics in relationtothe western coastoftheIslandof Maranhão.Thisisthereason for thisstudy, whichseekstoevaluatehowGeographycancontributetotheconservationofGeodiversity, basedontheevaluationofthepotentialoftheabioticresourcesofthesoutheasterncoastalenvironmentof Maranhão Island, in theStateof Maranhão, generatinginformationthatmaycontribute for furtherstudies in thisarea.Basedonthegeosystemic approach, theresultsofthisresearch are basedontheidentificationmadeofGeodiversityofthearea, characteristicsrelatedmainlytogeology, geomorphology, pedology, some ofthisinformationbeingidentified in this sector fromthisstudy. The understandingofthe local Geodiversity, from its characterizationandunderstandingofinteractionsand processes, allowedthedivisionofgeodiversitylandscapeunits, having as mainelementto its classificationGeomorphology, consideredanattributeofgreaterprominence in thearea in relationtotheotherresourcesabiotic. Basedontheseinferences, eight points ofinterestrelatedtoGeodiversity in thecoastalplániciewereinventoried. Usingqualitativeandquantitativetechniques, it waspossibletoidentifytheirpotentialvaluescategorized as tourist use value, scientific use value, conservationvalueandtheirrelevancebasedonthemethodologyof Pereira (2010).Thisinformationcontributesto a greaterdetailofthecharacteristicsofthearea, which still havefewstudiesfocusedonthis sector and as a basis for furtherstudiesandplanningand management actionsofthis sector thatis in theprocessofurbanexpansion.

The notion of risk is directly associated with the physical, psychological and / or material integrity of the individual. The circumstances of the risk are accentuated due to anthropic influence. These risks can be related to earthquakes, flooding, floods, etc., but in this research the emphasis is on sliding risks. It can be said that there are more and less vulnerable people, but we are all exposed to risk because there is zero risk. The municipality of São Luís - MA has slip risk points located in areas unsuitable for housing. These sites are located in sloping and sloping areas. These places are easy to occupy and no cost to establish housing, which facilitates the taking of part of these lands for construction of houses and even small commercial establishments. Therefore, the objective of this research is to analyze the socioenvironmental vulnerability present in São Luís - MA, considering the risks of landslide in the municipality. In order to achieve this objective, this research is based on the Systemic Theory, which considers the relationship between natural dynamics and anthropic activities and the methodology adopted by Crepani et al. (2001), which is based on media stability, Tricart (1977). In addition, the social factor was essential for identifying the most vulnerable areas because they are the most exposed. An adaptation of the Social Vulnerability Index adopted by Almeida (2010) and Almeida, Welle and Birkmann (2016) was adopted, using data that denote social disadvantage at the level of the census tract. Some methodologies were tested with the purpose of identifying the result that best suits the reality of the study area, with regard to social, environmental and socio-environmental analysis. Based on the social and environmental data, social and environmental vulnerability indexes were overlapped, which resulted in the municipality of São Luís having occasional areas of landslide risk, but in places that exist quite clearly. In these places are located homes that have the most precarious sanitation, infrastructure and income.

From the 1960, with the changes that occurred in the Brazilian agricultural production context resulting from the Green Revolution, the expansion of vectors related to agricultural productive consumption (material and intellectual), especially in the cities, which start to concentrate companies from different branches associated with agricultural production. As a result of this process, one of the vectors that currently stands out in the Brazilian context, by the large investments of national or foreign capital, is the trade of agricultural inputs supplying part of the demand of the primary productive chain for technical-scientific objects, with specifics according to each area and stage of production. It is in this sense that the present research analyzed the trade in agricultural inputs as vector of expansion of the use of technical-scientific objects in the territory of Potiguar, with a focus on the agents and processes imbricated to such dynamics in the cities. In order to fulfill this objective, we carried out a bibliographic review on topics such as agricultural productive consumption, trade and different forms of land uses by agriculture, despite the research in documents, collection and systematization of secondary data in official bodies such as IBGE, MAPA and BACEN, necessary elements for a methodological construction on the research of the commerce in the perspective of the agricultural productive consumption. The analysis showed that the trade of agricultural inputs in Rio Grande do Norte is configured in a complex way and endowed with specifics, presenting a greater concentration of relations between commercial enterprises of agricultural inputs in cities with the agents producing in the areas of greater density of agricultural production of the state, favoring those productions based on the use of inputs which follows the same productive logic of globalized agribusiness, that is, with intensive and extensive use of such inputs.

Starting in the 2000s, there began the dissemination of establishments and jobs related to the apparel sector for municipalities in the interior of Rio Grande do Norte. This process gained new impetus from the creation of the Interior Industrialization program (Pro-Sertão) in 2013, at the same time as there was a decrease in jobs in the Metropolitan Region of Natal (RMN). On the other hand, the establishments in the interior only carry out the step of the sewing of garments, being subordinated to industries located in the NMR. Thus, our general objective is to understand how the corporate use of territory evidenced by sewing "factions" and programs such as Pró-Sertão contributes to the spatial reorganization of the garment industry in Rio Grande do Norte. The methodological procedures used involve bibliographical research, collection and systematization of secondary data and fieldwork. The analysis reveals that the RN participates in the territorial division of industrial labor in Brazil from the production of apparel because of the supply of cheap labor in relation to the South and Southeast and the existence of a normative apparatus that stimulates the growth of the sector. The largest industries, located in the metropolitan area in a process of organizational change began to outsource the sewing stage to the interior of the state, with the objective of reducing costs with investments and charges related to the maintenance of the workforce. This process is based on the constitution of the corporate use of the territory, from which several agents in organizational solidarity play a specific role in the realization of the interests of the great industries, which control the whole productive process. The typology and topology of the sewing factions showed a greater density of companies and diversity of types in Jardim do Seridó, São José doSeridó and Parelhas. The greater dynamism of the activity in Seridó is related to the smaller possibilities of access to formal employment, especially in small municipalities. The opening of sewing factions has boosted a process of productive specialization, so that in some places more than half of the population with formal employment works in the garment industry. In the agreste and Eastern Potiguar, the proximity to the RMN and the existence of a public transport network allows the population of its municipalities greater possibilities of access to formal employment, which explains the less dynamism of the sewing factions.

The adoption of the river basin as a management unit is in the appropriation of the system concept,since any change — whether natural or anthropic — can affect the elements that form the system.In this aspect, supported by the National Water Resources Policy in Brazil, the planning inhydrographic basins is necessary for the analysis of the evolution of the productive activities andthe modifications of the soil-occupation patterns. Under this bias, the present work analyses theGramació river sub-basin for understanding and discussing the processes arising from the use andcoverage of the land over the natural resources of the sub-basin. The studied area comprises34.32 km² covering the municipalities of Vila Flor and Canguaretama — both located in themicroregion of the southern seaboard of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Norte — which maineconomic activity is the sugar cane monoculture. In this scenario, the present study identifies andanalyzes the implications on natural resources, specifically on water quality and forest coverage,as a result of land usage and land covering. For this, the methodology of this study involvedempirical and theoretical approaches. The first one was guided by the following themes: (I) landuse and coverage through class mapping, according to the Land Use Classification System (by theBrazilian Statistic and Geography Institute, IBGE), identifying 8 subclasses through the aerial andorbital images made in 2006 and 2011, allowing a quantitative and qualitative temporal analysis ofthe subclasses evolution; (II) morphometric analysis of the sub-basin that made it possible tounderstand the spatial arrangement of the drainage system and; (III) measurements of waterquality from both surface and groundwater sources measured by physical-chemical andmicrobiological laboratory tests, confronting the results with the standards established by thecurrent legislation. From the theoretical point of view, the hydrographic basin emerges as the maintheme of the research, bringing its concepts, the methodology for its delimitation and theconcerning legal aspects. Thus, concerning land usage and land covering, the results showed arealosses and area gains among the subclasses, highlighting the temporary crops as the mostexpressive. Parallel to this, the change in the criteria for the delimitation of Permanent PreservationAreas (PPAs) regulated by the New Brazilian Forest Code showed a regression in the issue ofprotecting surface water bodies. Regarding water quality, Gramació River’s samples showedseasonal and local variation due to the introduction of substances into the aquatic environment,through the discharge of domestic effluents and the contribution of leachated sediments from thesoil in the area. Regarding groundwater, variations in quality are due to infiltrations of domesticsewage through the septic and “black" cesspools located at the urbanized area in the Gramacióriver sub-basin — Vila Flor city, which lacks a sewage system. The results contributed to theelaboration of a cartography that spatializes the current state of surface water and groundwaterquality, as well as land usage and land covering patterns and their implications over the vegetation covers.

The coastal regions are space quite dynamics and complex whose morphogenesis is conditioned by both global and coastal dynamic. Their physical and genetic peculiarities present high natural fragility, accentuated by degree of anthropogenic interference and conditioned by environmental resilience. The construction of urban infrastructure overlapping dune fields and associated ecosystems destabilizes the equilibrium between flux of matter and energy and leads to the conformation of problems sociospatial and the degradation of coastal areas. It is in this context that the Jenipabu's Environmental Protection Area, situated in Rio Grande do Norte - which belongs to the group of unity of conservation of sustainable use -, allows the direct use of its resources and potentialities, increasing the probability of degradation of its ecosystems, in accordance with the use and the ways of land occupation. Characterized by the diversity of its physical-natural aspects, highlighting ecosystems of beaches, dunes, mangroves and tabuleiros. It has its economy based in the fishing, subsistence farming, agribusiness and tourism, the latter being of great expressiveness local and responsible by significant alterations in the dynamic and landscape acceptance. Therefore, this research searched apprehend the landscape changes from human occupation in one unity of conservation, presenting as general aim to analyse the consequences of the process of de soil occupation in the Jenipabu's Environmental Protection Area. We have established our research in bibliographical and field researches, cartographical productions, application of the method of classification by visual interpretation and in the geosystemic analysis of the landscape units and of the local dynamicity. It is verified in the Jenipabu's Environmental Protection Area one incisive pressure and investments in the touristic and real estate sector, through the increase of the phenomenon of second home. However, the expansion of the urban space in coastal regions contribute to the onset of forceful changes in its geomorphology and dynamic of its processes, represented by redistribution of the dunes fields and deflation plains and the spatial decreasing of marine beaches and tabuleiros. Such changes, provided both in consonance with the proper natural dynamic of each geomorphological unity and consequence of the local anthropic actions. We can list also, the propagation of relevant impacts to the local ecosystems and the acceptance of different conflicts socio-spatial. The biggest challenge of the managers of the Jenipabu's Environmental Protection Area and the society as a whole is to search the conciliation between the use and occupation of the soil and the conservation of the dune ecosystems, restingas, beaches, lagoons, tabuleiros, mangroves, woods and further local natural resources. Therefore, it is emphasized the peculiar dynamics of the area under studying in detriment on local social practices that corroborate in relevant changes in the landscape and the misrepresentation of the coastal system. It is highlighted the importance performed by one participatory administration preoccupied with the conservation of its resources and the conflict mediation.

The festival has exercised an important role in the dynamics of the cities since the ancient Greece when the man gathered to celebrate the fertility of the soil, worshiping the protector deities of the plantations (DEL PRIORE, 2000). Therefore, by its intermedium becomes favorable the multiples occupations in the city (GWIAZDZINSKI, 2011). About this point of view, this dissertation has as central objective to comprehend the territorial appropriations mediated by social practices and subjective representations in the Campina Grande's festajunina in Paraíba. In order to reach such finality, we seek theoretical grounding in the dialogical pair territory/territoriality based on Haesbaert's postulates (2014), Paula (2011), Bonnemaison (2002) and Dozena (2009). The procedural methodological procedures were based in the qualitative approach, making use of the countryside diary, participatory observation, newspaper and periodicals library, interviews, open dialogues, virtual netnographic/etnographic, photographic and video recordings. In face of this, we identify the territorialities established by the festival people, institutions, public authorities and private initiative, in the neighborhood festivities, religious celebrations, in the centre of the city and in the Parque do Povo. Consequently, such results allow the comprehension that even in the midst of mercantilism which happens in the Parque do Povo, the neighborhoods Bela Vista, Bodocongó, Distrito Industrial, Dinamérica, Jardim Quarenta, Nova Brasília e Santo Antônio resist in face of the business logic through the eucharistic celebrations, novenas, kermis, donkey racing, musical presentations and quadrille.

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The research now presented is centered in the study of the commercial dynamics of the traditional commercial areas in the context of Natal’s production of urban space. The theoretical direction is landed in the theory of production of the space and in its concepts and analysis categories, but also in the concepts of city, urban and commercial forms. Based on the regressive-progressive method of Henri Lefebvre, it was started from reading of the object of study to make a description of the current moment, so that afterwards, it would be returned to the past, seeking to analyze the different moments, the processes and the agents that have delineated the materiality present. Finally, it is intended to resume the elucidated present to understand it in its contradictions and perspectives designed to the future. From the empirical point of view, it is reported to the production of Natal’s urban space to understand the recent processes that give meaning to a new commercial dynamic, with the insertion of new spaces to the city’s commercial practice at the same time that traditional commercial spaces remain in the city context. As methodology it was used bibliographical search in books and journals for the purpose of theoretical discussion, besides secondary data collection in many institutions and field research with the objective of undertaking systematic observations, interviews, as well as producing photographical material about the area studied. The thesis defended here is that even though in the process of production of the urban space in Natal the commercial activity has expanded to other areas of the city, such activity remained in the traditional commercial areas that contain the neighborhoods of Ribeira, Cidade Alta and Alecrim. The results indicate that this trade, specially retailing, of a high popular character, is remade in the context of expansion, modernization and diversification of city trade. From this combination of processes, there is, currently a center that traditionally has hosted the commercial activity and that maintains diverse conditions of centrality, its reference point. Underlying to these diverse conditions, there is, as a result, a dynamic that has been marking differently the trade in these neighborhoods. 

Pentecostalism became the most significant religious phenomenon in Brazil of the second half of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, reverberating in its structure social, cultural, political and economic. The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (IURD), founded in 1977, by Bishop Edir Macêdo, although not apioneer,wasthemainprotagonistinthisprocess,producinganewdynamicof expansion based on in the development and integration of multiple networks of power that have conventional religious field by conquering spaces in the upper production of the urban economy, and in particular in the media industry, interacting strongly with the Brazilian regional reconfiguration put in each period. Glimpsing the spatial constraints of expansion and capillarization the core of the thesissoughttoshowthattheinstitutionalandterritorialdevelopmentoftheIURD in order to complete its the Brazilian territory, was structured adapted to the specific geographical conditions by the leadership of the Church (especially the expansion of technical information and circulation in the territory, and the normalization of the territory). In other words, the This thesis has always been attentive to the pace of social and technical marked the evolution of the differentiated integration process of the macro-regions Brazil, particularly in the period from 1990 to 2010, when the last frontier evangelism is crossed with its late, but intense presence in the North. The regional dispersion of the iurdianas networks was unveiled in the different infrastructural arrangements presented, amongthem,thenetworksoftemples,broadcasters,andpoliticalpartystructure. All these subsystems made it possible to overcome the contingencies imposed by heterogeneities of socioeconomic development in the Brazilian regions, thus facilitating the control and mobilization of the flow of people and information, as well as access to the most remote areas of the Brazilianterritory.

The purpose of this research was to analyze the urban interventions that act on the waterfronts and that restructure the surroundings of the port area of the city of Fortaleza from the production of the space. We assume as a temporal cut the beginning of the 21st century, and more specifically, the years 2000 to 2017. We start from the thesis that urban policies are directed to privileged spaces of the city, in this case, the waterfronts that correspond to the section of the avenue Beira Mar. In order to understand the phenomenal experience of the empirical cut, we are supported in the theoretical contributions fomented by the regressive-progressive method, which allowed us to understand the production of the urban space of the Fortaleza waterfronts contextualized to a totality. However, based on this method, it was possible to resort to historical processes to unravel the current dynamics, when, during the second half of the twentieth century, the coastal area becomes one of the most valued and disputed in the city, making public power different interventions that culminated in the incorporation and urban renewal. Today, the segment comprising the Praia de Iracema, Meireles and Mucuripe districts is marked by a close relationship between real estate and tourism dynamics, characterized by the high price of urban land, the concentration of residential condominiums and high-standard hotels and the best access conditions services and urban infrastructure. At the same time, Fortaleza maintains an important peculiarity in relation to the occupation of its waterfronts, since it is characterized by a city that is intensely fragmented, segregated, plundered and denounces through its urban fabric the inequalities of all orders. In the current context of entrepreneurship in urban governance and the consolidation of strategic planning, we understand that these urban interventions are a trigger for real estate development, in the same proportion that the State creates and modernizes new urban and tourist facilities, such as the Maritime Terminal of Passengers, the Ceará Aquarium and the Fish Market. These projects meet the ideas of "requalification" of central urban areas and water fronts that have already been realized in other cities around the world, such as those experienced in the experiences of American cities, the Iberian peninsula (Portugal and Spain) and the pioneering projects in Brazil. We highlight in our investigation the projects that are currently being implemented and implemented in the waterfronts and which point out a new urban proposal for the city of Fortaleza. We find through the research that investments in large projects are linked to urban renewal in the city of Fortaleza and are given in the production of an environment built for the interests of large private agents, which intensifies and sharpens socio-spatial disparities in the city. For the realization of a project such as Nova Beira, we identified some intentionalities related to the de-bureaucratization of the private sector's activities and changes in legal purposes in order to create new equipment or to modernize those already existing. New interventions are designed and implemented to foster the competitive insertion of the city into the global economy, generating new conflicts and forms of resistance.

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The present research contemplates the traditional commerce of foodstuff from Aglomerado Urbano Crajubar, located in the part south of Ceará State. This segment is going through a period of changes arising from the new competitive scenario that it was delineated with the arrival of establishments of global networks of commerce in Juazeiro do Norte. Front of the role played by global/worldwide unities, small retail merchants of food sector reaffirm new facets and reveal changes and permanence of new ways of acting. Therefore, the study aimed to analyse the traditional food commerce from Crajubar, in the context the hypermarkets(Atacadão Distribuidora, Maxxi Atacado, Hiper Bompreço and Assaí Atacadista) belonging to large global networks redefine the relation established between small merchants and local suppliers. It focused on the importance of commercial activity in the historical spatial dynamics of Juazeiro do Norte, Crato e Barbalha and in the current spatial configuration of urban aglomeration, highlighting the implications arising and promoted by global networks of trade. It was performed bibliographic study, documentary, historiografic and field studies through interviews with owners of retail establishments and to the main bodies involved in the commercial dynamics of Crajubar. The expansion of commerce in the aglomeration, mainly of Juazeiro do Norte, reveals the importance of this segment that encompasses a meso-reginal scale. The decade of 1990 constitutes a mark of the growth in the number of establishment retailer and wholesaler in Crajubar and of the consolidation of Juazeiro do Norte as the largest commercial emporium of aglomeration. With the introduce  global networks of commerce, in the first decade 21st century, the small markets, groceries, bodegas and  markets from Crajubar find themselves under the necessity of innovating, they are adopting change strategies to remain in the market. Present scenario of commercial segment in the cities of Crato, Juazeiro do Norte and Barbalha it is marked by resistance of small retailers in the face of the large global trading groups. Concomitantly, the new competitive relations established among small retailers, local suppliers and large global networks of trade demonstrate within technical advance and inside economic segment, Old and new forms of commerce coexist and relate to, (re)configuring and (re)defining spatial dynamics of the cities.

The production of textile artifacts is spatially distributed in Rio Grande do Norte in a concentrated way in the Metropolitan regions of Natal and Seridó Potiguar. This last one has 49% of the total productive units of the State, emphasizing the branch of domestic artifacts (FIERN, 2017). The activity is concentrated in the interior of the region, especially in its western portion, in the municipalities of Caicó, Currais Novos and Jardim de Piranhas, whose productive structure is based on obsolete techniques and technologies, with the local or regional origin of capital and intensive use of cheap and low skilled labor. In view of the above, the present work has as central question: how can an activity with the characteristics of textile artifacts production in Seridó Potiguar be able to achieve insertion in the current dynamics of productive space circuits and coexist with the hegemonic technical systems of planetary order? In this way, the aim is to analyze the use of the territory by the productive space circuit textile, with emphasis on the production of domestic artifacts from the processes, dynamics and content of this in the region of Seridó Potiguar. For this, the territorial configuration of the activity in the Rio Grande do Norte is characterized by the identification of typologies of the spatial circuit of the textile production in its interior; It is discussed the evolution of textile activity in Seridó Potiguar considering the constitutive aspects of socio-spatial formation, norms and past forms-content; We try to understand the unity and circularity of the spatial circuit of the production of domestic artifacts based on the stages that are realized or are spatially interconnected in Seridó Potiguar; And the articulations undertaken by the agents in the constitution of cooperation circles are problematized. For the development of the research, a bibliographical review was carried out, mainly from Andrade (1981), Arroyo (2008), Azevedo (2007, 2013), Barrios (2014), Castillo and Frederico (2010), Furtado (1969), Marx (1990, 2011), Moraes (1984), Santos (2012) and Silveira (2010b). In addition, some theoretical and methodological procedures were used to collect and systematize data, based on the techniques of documentary research, field research - in which the application of interviews based on semi-structured scripts and forms was performed - articulated with a spatial descriptive statistical base.

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It is a study that aims to understand the process of reaffirmation of the urban-regional centrality of Mossoró from the 1970s, with reference to commercial activity and the provision of services. This work has adopted as a train thought, the method of regressive-progressive analysis, formulated by Lefebvre; and as methodological procedures, the reading and the theoretical discussion of the concepts of urban space, region and centrality (key concepts); the analysis of historical and geographic texts that explain and contextualize the urban-regional centrality of the city of Mossoró; the collection, systematization and analysis of statistical data on this urban center and its region of influence; as well as research and field investigations. It is structured in three main parts that deal with: socioeconomic and tertiary characterization of the city of Mossoró and its region of influence - established from the study of Regions of Influences of Cities (REGIC, 2008); the historical and spatial conformation of its regional centrality; the discussion of spatial relations and processes that reaffirm this city as a central urban space in the region. It was observed that Mossoró has been configured, from a historical, spatial and functional point of view, as an urban-regional centrality, continuously attracting, and due to its economic activities, various flows to its urban nucleus. In addition, it has been inferred that, since the 1970s, the concentration and diversity of service and business activities found in this urban space are elements that reaffirm the regional centrality of this city, because the flows that flow from this and to this center are mainly driven by the supply of tertiary activities.

The vegetal cover offers several benefits to society, but historically it has been suppressed by anthropic occupation in urban areas. The analysis of its distribution, quantification and qualification offers subsidies for the evaluation of environmental quality. The studies about the vegetal cover of the municipality of Natal are scarce, but research about this theme is important, because they make it possible to diagnose the current situation of this coverage so that intervention plans are applied in a more sustainable way. The objective of the research was to analyze the vegetal cover of the municipality of Natal from its quantification, qualification and spatial distribution. The methodological procedures consisted in the quantification and mapping of the distribution of the vegetal cover for the municipality of Natal and mapping the diversity of vegetal cover by visual interpretation in four neighborhoods, always from the classification of images of Google Earth PRO. It was verified that Natal has 4,626 hectares of vegetal cover, distributed in 15.3891 fragments. More than 60% of the vegetal cover area is located in the Environmental Protection Areas (ZPAs) of the city and 83% of the fragments have areas smaller than 100 m². It was verified that Natal presents a Vegetal Cover Index of 27.5% and 54.2 m² of vegetal cover for each inhabitant. In relation to the four neighborhoods selected for analysis of the vegetal cover diversity, it was verified that the neighborhoods of settled occupation, Cidade Alta and Petropolis, have a predominantly anthropic vegetal cover and a lower diversity of vegetal cover classes, 17 classes, while the neighborhoods in consolidation, Pitimbu and Pajuçara, presented a higher percentage of natural vegetal cover and a greater diversity of vegetal cover types, 40 classes. It is concluded that Natal still presents a significant vegetal cover, but poorly distributed over the territory, more concentrated and diverse in the peripheral areas, especially in neighborhoods with the presence of ZPAs, and more fragmented and anthropized in the central areas.

The aim of this research is to analyze the main theoretic-methodological and conceptual trends existing in the studies on tourism brought about with the production of geographical knowledge (theses and dissertations) stimulated in the scope of the Brazilian programs of post-graduation stricto sensu in Geography. Alongside that, there is the possibility of identifying the scientific contents inside the geographical space and in its theory in the work of the geographer Milton Santos, verifying, with it, the meaning of a specific knowledge in Geography to the construction and validation of this science. The study is defined as descriptive-exploratory and possessing a qualitative-quantitative bias. In addition, it applies Bardin’s (2004), analysis of thematic contents indicated by Richardson (2008), besides the programs Wordle (cloud of words) and Pajek (network constitution). As an analytical support, one visits the way tourism gains materiality in Brazil since 1930, genesis of this activity in the country, added with the ordaining of the main theoretic-methodological contributions of the geographical science to identify the odds of the research. it is useful to mention that among a total of 63 stricto sensu post-graduation programs in Geography validated in the period of the researching, 44 presented 814 studies on tourism: 641 master’s dissertations and 173 doctoral theses, in a total of 35 superior education instances. Given these data, Geography studies tourism through the actions of tourism on the landscape, especially the natural ones, for the Brazilian tourism focuses particularly the natural resources behind the touristic displacements and trips. Through these actions, tourism eventually transforms landscapes in “products” and “merchandises” to be commercialized and consumed, in a process intermediated in every phase by the capitalist system. That is why the principal studies realized by the geographic science interpreting how the praxis of tourism in Brazil is organized vary due the economic biases, the focus on the geographic space, the impacts on environment, the yearning for sustainability and the consolidation of the social instance. A great number of these information are supported by the method of dialectical approach. The geographical science still endeavors to disclose the touristic phenomenon understanding it as a social phenomenon intrinsic to the development process. However, this kind of analysis is still minority, what justifies the negligible existence of researches of phenomenological trend. As a research subject, tourism does not need to be especially important to Geography. Along with other subjects, it only needs encouragement in function of the contribution it can give to help building a society more just in the coming future.

The production of the built environment on a large scale, in the form of villas, promoted by the Programa Minha Casa Minha Vida (PMCMV), has generated a set of positive and negative results in several cities of Rio Grande do Norte (RN). Among these results it is possible to highlight the transformation of the landscape and the configuration of urban spaces; the dynamisation of the economy and generation of jobs; the implications about the housing shortage and living conditions of low-income families; and a series of problems sociospatial such as, real-estate speculation, the rising price of land and housing, towards suburban areas, residential segregation and the level of indebtedness of low-income families. Before the extension of the clipping space defined a priori (the territory of the RN), the large heterogeneity of its urban and bounces unequal of the Program in the territory, we chose to arrange it in three cutouts smaller spaces to better operationalize the research from the methodological point of view: the Região Metropolitana de Natal (RMN), Mossoró, in the particular condition of the average city and the smaller towns of the state. The definition of such cutouts is a methodological tool developed with a twofold objective: 1) to work around the large heterogeneity of the urban of the state, putting a significant variety of cities with common characteristics within the cutouts larger spatial and more homogeneous, in order to operationalize better the development of the analysis on a large universe of empirical situations; 2) demonstrate how the Program spatializes, with their results and contradictions, in the different form in each set of cities, leading to consequences sociospatial, exceedingly varied. This highlights the power quota of the pre-existing conditions of each urban context the site, while important determinant of the results of the Program in the RN and defines, therefore, the hypothesis of the thesis proposal of this work. This posits that each of these cutouts is not a mere reflection of reality, they interfere in the social processes as a whole, and, therefore, on the core aspects of the Program, such as in the predominance of the type of income range; in the value of housing; the location of the enterprises; on the type of financing for acquisition of housing; the quantity of the enterprises; on the results of the reduction of the housing deficit; and in the structural quality and aesthetics of buildings and settlements. Thus, the central goal of the present work is to analyze the process and the results of the uneven development of PMCMV on the urban reality of the RN, from the influence of the contents of the particular three urban typologies distinct. In order to reach this goal we have opted for the combination of methodological approaches related to theoretical and secondary data collection, emphasizing essentially the character and the general aspects of the object in the screen, and methodological approaches of empirical-quantitative, focusing on the collection of hard data in place, in order to provide tangible information, essential to the understanding of the materialization of unequal PMCMV in the framework of urban RN.

The Rio Grande do Norte’s urban network has been restructured without any current deadline for changes related to the expansion of transportation and telecommunications engineering systems. For the dissemination of modern productive forms, in addition to the polarized regions, as well as the distribution of retail commercial networks and non-material forms of production, such as banking, cards and educational services. As the new uses of the state territory are realized, they increase the complexity of the urban network configuration. In this sense, our goal is to understand the urban network of Rio Grande do Norte in the technical-scientific-informational period, understanding that the advancement of this new way in the territory promotes its restructuring due to the superposition of networks that breaks any logic based on a rigid hierarchy. In order to do so, we sought to know the set of materialities and geographically actions in the state territory, from the diffusion of the technical-scientific-informational means, especially from the 1990s, as well as to understand the main changes occurred in the state territory from that period, Identifying and analyzing the main networks that cohabit and restructure the urban network in this period of time. The analyzes allowed us to consider that the changes occurred in the urban network from the technical-scientific-informational mean are of several orders and make it increasingly complex and differentiated. Previously, we could observe a network of interactions between the cities of the state that for a good part of the activities, even those more daily ones, maintained a situation of dependence in relation to the centers that exerted some level of centrality. In the current context, the Rio Grande do Norte’s territory use, given a certain density of technique, science and information, keeps the classic hierarchy in some networks, but coexist with these, networks with diverse hierarchies, whose flows are redirected even to local cities. Thus, as cities of Rio Grande do Norte participate in more than one network and in different scales simultaneously, with different functions and roles in each one of them.

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Não são raros estudos sobre o rural e o urbano, a cidade e o campo, na Geografia brasileira. No entanto, analisar a urbanização enquanto um processo que ocorre em todo o território, e o rural e o urbano enquanto conteúdos que coexistem no espaço geográfico é desafiador. Assim, essa dissertação busca fugir da dicotomia, outrora empreendida nas análises do rural e do urbano, a partir de uma visão integrada do espaço, objetivando analisar o uso agrícola do território na Região Metropolitana de Natal e o processo de urbanização do mesmo. Para isso, elaborou-se um índice de urbanização a partir de variáveis pré-selecionadas que considera os diferentes níveis técnicos e permite visualizar as densidades da urbanização em cada município da RMN, de acordo com a realidade do estado, e proporcional ao tamanho da população e suas demandas. Dois dos municípios da RMN são considerados, pelo poder público e pelo próprio IBGE, como 100% urbanos. No entanto, a pesquisa de campo revelou a presença marcante do conteúdo rural nesses municípios e áreas em que o conteúdo urbano é rarefeito, com ocorrência de uso agrícola de parte desses municípios. Essa normatização traz consequências para os agricultores, que além de não terem acesso a algumas políticas e programas governamentais, por residirem em municípios 100% urbano, ainda não recebem assistência técnica, e, precisam pagar IPTU, quando, de acordo com a natureza da atividade desenvolvida e as características da localidade, deveria ser cobrado o ITR. Além disso, a atividade agrícola é responsável pela geração de muitos empregos na RMN, havendo municípios em que há um percentual considerável de trabalhadores vinculados ao setor primário, e também em grande parte dos municípios a terra utilizada para plantação e pastagens é bastante considerável, daí a importância de se estudar o uso agrícola do território na RMN. Com a pesquisa constatou-se que é no município de Natal onde é encontrado uma maior densidade urbana, já que é nesse município onde há uma maior materialidade desse conteúdo. O que pode ser atribuído tanto a demanda interna da população desse município, quanto a demanda gerada por outros municípios do estado, culminando na ocorrência de uma forte centralidade de Natal. Os municípios de Parnamirim e São Gonçalo do Amarante tem aumentado sua centralidade, sendo o primeiro, o segundo município com maior índice de urbanização. Contudo, mesmo com os maiores níveis de urbanização, há, nesses municípios, áreas de rarefações do conteúdo urbano e de densidade do conteúdo rural, que podem ser percebidos seja no modo de vida da população ou até mesmo na prática agrícola com características de ruralidades que comprovam a coexistência do conteúdo rural e urbano em um mesmo espaço. 

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Environmental studies, such as physical-territorial planning, which need to take into account both the physical and environmental aspects, as well as the context of space occupation, are privileged by the geomorphological information collected in a given geographic region. The SIGs (Cartography Information System) are often responsible for Survey of the mentioned information, being part of the cartography Geomorphological. This in turn fits into this context as an important means Representation of the features of the terrestrial relief, which currently has resources for the collection, analysis and management of such information. Being thus, the present work aimed to perform the compartmentalization of the relief from a geomorphological study of the Riacho Santana-RN sub-basin, through use tools of GIS environments, such as remote (sensing / geoprocessing), using images from SRTM (NASA), images of Landsat 8, in addition to the geo-data database of TOPODATA. The main theoretical basis is the assumptions made by Ross (1992), Project RadamBrasil (1971/1981), in addition to the Technical Manual of Geomorphology (IBGE, 1994). All available for free and with little access. It was used as example a case study to show them how we can produce data used in geographic and geomorphological science. They were delimited in the I studied the first four taxa of the classification proposed by this author, having been possible to verify that the use of the materials and methods adopted was shown efficient, contributing to the drafting of the Compartmentalization Charter Geomorphology of the Riacho Santana-RN sub-basin.

The Brazilian rural is marked by direct conflict between the landowners and the workers (peasants), forming the basis of their socio-spatial formation. This conflictive relationship was fueled by the unleashing of the expropriation of rural workers from the 1960s onwards and the intensification of the outflow of population to the cities. The focus of investment by the state was on the cities and the countryside, on the other hand, remained with the structures untouched, based on the latifundio and monoculture. The agrarian conflicts drew attention to the problem of land and life on the land, pressing the Government to develop Public Policies that would serve the family farmers, and give prominence to social organizations. It was in this context that the Program for the Sustainable Development of Rural Territories (PRONAT) was created in 2003. The objective of this research is to analyze the Program of Sustainable Development of Rural Territories, as a State policy, from formulation to execution, taking as a Reference the development concept that structures the Program, the territorial character of development and its application in public policies, empirically focusing on the Rural Territory of Trairí / RN. It is based on the premise that the lack of institutionalization of PRONAT and territorial governance bodies makes it impossible to effectively participate in the decision-making public authorities and market agents. In this sense, the rural development policy has been established as a sectorized policy for the rural, maintaining the old structure for implementing development policies. The work was based on the experience of the author as territorial adviser of the Rural Territory of Trairí / RN. An analysis was made on the composition of the participants of the territories, the events held and the investments of PROINF. It is necessary to legitimize the territorial authorities as a space with decision-making power, composed of civil society, the State and the market agent. In order to do this, we must carry out a territorially based development.

As praias de Cacimbinhas e do Madeiro estão inseridas no litoral oriental do estado do Rio Grande do Norte, mais precisamente no município de Tibau do Sul. Diante dos indicativos de erosão na costa deste município e dos processos costeiros atuantes nas praias, buscou-se, como objetivo geral desta pesquisa, compreender a evolução do ambiente deposicional de Cacimbinhas e do Madeiro, além de caracterizar os ambientes pretéritos das praias por meio de análises sedimentológicas; identificar a idade dos sedimentos praiais por meio de datação absoluta com auxílio de técnicas utilizadas em estudos voltados para o período Quaternário; e desvendar a evolução paleogeográfica das praias de Cacimbinhas e do Madeiro. Para isso, o estudo está envolvendo pesquisa bibliográfica e de campo, ambas pautadas em trabalhos acadêmicos, leis, conceitos e teorias concernentes à geografia física, geomorfologia do quaternário, geologia sedimentar e estratigrafia. Dessa forma, os procedimentos metodológicos foram subdivididos em três etapas: Etapa pré-campo: onde estão sendo realizados os trabalhos de gabinete; Etapa campo: momento onde será realizada a aquisição das amostragens; e Etapa pós-campo: onde ocorrerá a análise e integração dos dados processados adquiridos ao longo da pesquisa. Sendo assim, foram apresentados alguns resultados parciais de uma prospecção preliminar realizada em dezembro de 2013, que teve por objetivo checar os depósitos sedimentares das praias e realizar uma breve caracterização dos mesmos. Portanto, pode-se dizer, de maneira mais ampla, que estudos voltados para as áreas costeiras são de grande importância, uma vez que, em todo mundo, a maior parte dos grandes sítios urbanos estão assentados sob depósitos de idade quaternária e, nesse sentido, a conclusão deste trabalho pretende contribuir para o conhecimento da dinâmica sedimentar destas praias e, gestão e planejamento desta área que está voltada, principalmente, para o turismo estrangeiro.

A cidade de Garanhuns-PE vem passando por uma expansão urbana rápida, desordenada e poluente que tem impactado nascentes presentes no ambiente urbano as quais são mananciais de relevância histórica e ambiental para o município e para a bacia hidrográfica do Rio Mundaú. Diante disso, o presente trabalho teve como objetivo analisar a problemática socioambiental decorrente da expansão urbana no entorno de nascentes no município de Garanhuns-PE. Buscando considerar dinâmicas sociais e ambientais, o estudo seguiu os aportes teóricos da geografia socioambiental, adotando o modelo teórico-metodológico do Sistema Ambiental Urbano proposto por Mendonça (2004) e os valores conceituais da teoria do espaço proposta por Santos (2012a). A operacionalização da análise envolveu pesquisa bibliográfica, documental, avaliação de impactos ambientais e análise da qualidade de água. Verificou-se uma grande variedade de conceituações e tipologias de nascentes assim como um vasto arcabouço legal útil a proteção das mesmas. Constatou-se que Garanhuns possui singularidades ambientais favoráveis ao surgimento de nascentes e que esses mananciais foram importantes no estabelecimento e no crescimento da cidade. Os impactos ambientais nas nascentes Olho D’água, Bom Pastor, Vila Maria, Pau Amarelo e Pau Pombo foram avaliados utilizando o Índice de Impacto Ambiental em Nascentes – IIAN mediante o qual se constatou graves contextos de impactos socioambientais a dinâmica das nascentes. O Monitoramento da qualidade da água superficial proveniente das nascentes Pau Pombo, Pau Amarelo e Vila Maria foi realizado entre abril de 2013 e abril de 2014, a análise dos resultados se deu com base na Resolução nº 357/2005 do Conselho Nacional de Meio Ambiente, utilizando os parâmetros Oxigênio Dissolvido, Demanda Bioquímica de Oxigênio, Nitrato, Coliformes Totais, Coliformes Fecais e Condutividade Elétrica. Os resultados obtidos indicam poluição orgânica contínua e profundas alterações na qualidade das águas provenientes das nascentes. Dessa forma, verifica-se que é urgente a execução de medidas visando à interrupção dos impactos, proteção e conservação das nascentes e suas microbacias.

O presente trabalho teve como principal objetivo avaliar as alterações microclimáticas do entorno do Parque Eólico Piloto de Macau/RN, presente no município de mesmo nome. Para alcançar tal objetivo, fez-se uso de técnicas de sensoriamento remoto utilizando os satélites Landsat - 5 TM e 7 ETM+, a partir do qual tornou-se possível avaliar as mudanças de temperatura na superfície presentes no entorno do parque em períodos anteriores a sua implantação até os dias atuais. Para avaliação dos dados de temperatura que foram gerados através da aplicação de um modelo, foi analisada sua correlação com os dados coletados em campo e avaliado seu grau de correlação, de modo a confirmar a validade dos dados adquiridos por via satélite. Além disso, foi realizada uma caracterização do clima da região com base nos dados da estação climatológica presente em Macau. Uma vez coletados esses dados, tornou-se possível a avaliação de alterações de ordem climática na região de estudo. Após a validação dos modelos de temperatura, foi realizada uma análise dos histogramas de temperaturas gerados. Visualmente não foi possível identificar nenhuma alteração significativa, entretanto, ao se analisar os dados de temperatura em um maior nível de detalhe, foi detectado um padrão de comportamento dos dados para ambos os períodos avaliados; apesar disso, não foi possível perceber uma distinção entre os períodos de pré-operação do parque e pós-operação. A partir desse resultado, foram levantadas hipóteses para explicar o comportamento dos dados, sendo a primeira delas a presença de umidade no solo e a segunda, a composição química do solo. De modo a validar as hipóteses levantadas, foram aplicadas técnicas de PDI, envolvendo a combinação RGB de diferentes bandas do Landsat 5 e a execução do procedimento de Razão de bandas, que puderam evidenciar os elementos presentes na superfície do solo.

Este trabalho tem como objeto a elaboração de indicadores socioambientais de risco de desastres, presente em áreas de ocupação humana precária, associada à intensa dinâmica ambiental, na perspectiva dos estudos sobre o tema em Geografia. Definiu-se como área de estudo o bairro Mãe Luiza, em Natal, capital do Estado do Rio Grande do Norte. O local foi escolhido como tal por historicamente apresentar diversas condições de vulnerabilidade e exposição ao risco de desastres. Após caracterização socioambiental do local, foram elaborados dois índices: o Índice de Vulnerabilidade Social (IVS), com base em 17 variáveis dispostas em questionário aplicado ao longo do núcleo populacional do bairro, sobre malha regular (amostragem sistemática), classificado em 5 níveis de VS a partir de média ponderada; e o Índice de Exposição Físico-natural aos Movimentos de Massa (IEMM), o qual teve como base 16 variáveis que caracterizam condições de exposição a movimentos de massa no bairro, em níveis classificados a partir de média ponderada de 1 a 5. A relação entre estes dois resultados, especializados em mapa do bairro, produziu o Índice de Vulnerabilidade Socioambiental (IVSA) de Mãe Luiza, classificado também em 5 níveis, a partir de lógica boleana de correlação para sobreposição cartográfica, com uso de software computacional ArcGIS v.9.3, sendo nomeadas como: Muito Baixa; Baixa; Média; Alta; e Muito Alta Vulnerabilidade Socioambiental no bairro. O estudo se baseia em metodologia proposta po Guerra et al (2009) para o IEMM e Almeida (2010) para o IVS, que foram modificadas e adaptadas para a realidade local, produzindo uma inédita metodologia aplicada nesta área. Concluiu-se que o bairro tem maior parte de sua área com Alta e Muito Alta Vulnerabilidade socioambiental a desastres, sendo definidas sete (7) áreas críticas, com Muito Alto IVSA, e perigos associados a movimentos de massa ou alagamento. Ao final elencou-se os principais problemas socioambientais encontrados, como elementos geradores para a proposição de medidas mitigadoras e/ou intervenções propostas, referentes a fatores de vulnerabilidade de ordem estruturais: como baixo padrão construtivo das residências; drenagem urbana deficiente; imóveis abandonas em vias de desabamento;  infraestura das vias de acesso e contenção de talude. E sociais: como falta de educação sobre risco socioambiental; renda e escolaridade dos moradores; presença de pessoas com dificuldade de locomoção e/ou portadores de necessidade especiais. Esta realidade evidencia a necessidade de ações urgentes aplicadas na resolução e/ou diminuição dos problemas apontados, o que é palta ao final deste trabalho.

Na cidade contemporânea a pixação e o graffiti estão cada vez mais presentes, expostos nos espaços público e privado constroem a paisagem urbana em suas dimensões simbólica e material. Esses grafismos urbanos são ricos em cores, formas e discursos. Eles representam o grito de sujeitos/agentes que muitas vezes são marginalizados socialmente, se utilizam destas formas de expressão para se manifestar e exercer uma ação política como protagonistas na produção simbólica da cidade. Este trabalho discute a espacialidade da pixação e do graffiti na cidade de Natal-RN, analisando suas formas e conteúdos impressos nos muros da cidade. Procura-se entender quais as lógicas regem a apropriação destes espaços, assim como quem deles se apropriam, levando em consideração os lugares que são grafitados. A paisagem é subvertida desta forma pelas mãos dos grafiteiros e pixadores que se arriscam riscando os muros e paredes da cidade.

O presente estudo analisa o processo de geração e gestão de resíduos sólidos domiciliares na Cidade de Chibuto-Moçambique, tendo em conta as diferentes formas de destinação existentes e as implicações sócio ambientais decorrentes delas e espacialmente distribuídas. Para responder a esses objetivos foi aplicado um questionário aos 367 agregados familiares distribuídos em 14 bairros da cidade sobre a forma como os resíduos sólidos domiciliares são tratados e o seu impacto na saúde pública dos residentes. Aliado a isso, o questionário buscava responder sobre a proveniência dos residentes (migração) e sua condição socio económica. Para além do questionário recorreu-se à entrevista semiestruturada, a qual foi aplicada ao setor de saneamento e urbanização do conselho municipal da cidade e ao Serviço distrital da saúde, mulher e ação social. A essas técnicas de coleta de dados desenvolveu-se também uma revisão da literatura sobre para a fundamentação teórica e discussão mais profunda do assunto, assim como observação sistemática do fenômeno. Da pesquisa averiguou-se que o serviço de coleta de resíduos sólidos efetuado pelo Conselho Municipal não obedece aos procedimentos consagrados no Regulamento sobre a Gestão de Resíduos Sólidos, que preconiza gestão ambientalmente segura, sustentável e racional dos resíduos, devido ao lançamento a céu aberto em lixão. Ademais, essa coleta não abrange a todos os munícipes, por razões de ordem financeira, técnica e organizacional. Em suma, o estudo constatou que mais de 90% dos agregados familiares pesquisados se auxiliam do enterro, da queima e da deposição nas ruas como forma de tratamento dos seus resíduos sólidos e destes na sua maioria registram maior frequência de problemas de saúde pública (doenças de diarreia e da malária), principalmente os residentes nas áreas suburbana e periurbana. Nisso são propostas formas de gestão de resíduos sólidos domiciliares mais sustentável e espacialmente adequadas por meio da reciclagem, coleta seletiva, compostagem, reutilização e redução da produção dos resíduos.

A urbanização do final do século XX no Brasil foi marcada por significativas características, a começar pelo ritmo bastante acelerado de crescimento das cidades e pela sua abrangência, agora mundial. Essas características contribuíram para que este processo se desencadeasse em diversas cidades também da região Nordeste, mesmo naquelas onde a industrialização não foi tão representativa como na cidade de Natal/RN. Até poucas décadas atrás, o Estado do Rio Grande do Norte era exemplo de um estado de economia agrária e população majoritariamente rural, mas que vem mudando aceleradamente esse quadro. Natal/RN com uma população que em 1980 era de 416.898 habitantes e que 2013 duplicou alcançando a surpreendente marca de 853.929 habitantes que produziram um altissonante crescimento populacional ao longo das duas ultimas décadas materializando fortes influências urbanísticas na cidade através do processo de urbanização. Nesse contexto, a Av. Eng. Roberto Freire desempenha um papel fundamental no sistema viário da zona do município de Natal, articulando e distribuindo o tráfego local para bairros como Capim Macio, Neópolis e cidades vizinhas da região metropolitana como Parnamirim, bem como servindo ao tráfego de passagem que se dirige ao bairro de Ponta Negra e ao litoral sul do Estado. Hoje, oito em cada dez brasileiros vivem em cidades e essa concentração de pessoas nestes centros urbanos traz uma série de implicações espaciais e urbanísticas, sejam elas de ordem social, econômica ou ambiental. Diante desse atual ritmo acelerado em que o processo de urbanização vem transformando e produzindo o espaço urbano da cidade de Natal/RN, objetivou-se entender as espacialidades e materialidades do planejamento urbano, do urbanismo e do processo de urbanização na Av. Eng. Roberto Freire/Natal/RN nos últimos 20 anos para entender o contexto contemporâneo da via. Desta forma, a Av. Eng. Roberto Freire tornou-se para a pesquisa a base onde se averiguou as materialidades e as influências desse processo de urbanização, que está fortemente aliado aos ditames do desenvolvimento da atividade turística na cidade de Natal/RN nas últimas duas décadas e que tem influências materiais significativas nas práticas espaciais e nos territórios usados dos usuários da via atualmente.

Neste trabalho problematizou-se a relação entre comércio e cidade, na perspectiva de analisar o papel desta atividade na dinâmica urbana de Pau dos Ferros, a partir da década de 1980. Nessa perspectiva, caracterizou-se a cidade do ponto de vista histórico, enfatizando a dinâmica comercial no contexto urbano, quanto ao número de estabelecimentos, tipologias, especializações; identificou-se os vetores de modernização da atividade comercial na cidade; reconheceu-se, a partir da difusão do comércio no espaço urbano, os processos e as formas espaciais associados a essa dinâmica. O percurso metodológico envolveu pesquisa bibliográfica, pesquisa documental em órgãos como o Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE), Serviço Brasileiro de Apoio a Micro e Pequenas Empresas (SEBRAE), Câmara de Dirigentes Lojistas (CDL) de Pau dos Ferros e Prefeitura Municipal, além de pesquisa de campo. Os resultados da pesquisa indicam que a Cidade de Pau dos Ferros, do ponto de vista histórico, teve sua origem ligada ao comércio e tem o centro como o local da gênese dessa atividade, pois o maior número de estabelecimentos, tipologias e especializações aí se encontram; a atividade comercial é marcada pela coexistência entre formas tradicionais e modernas, sendo estas alocadas na área central da cidade, por exemplo, supermercados e lojas especializadas; e a difusão do comércio no espaço urbano de Pau dos Ferros revelou o centro da cidade e a Avenida Independência como os locais onde se manifestam, de modo mais expressivos, os processos e formas associados a esta atividade.

Objetiva-se compreender o processo de territorialização dos serviços bancários e como isso se configura no plano da existência do território e da economia política urbana no atual período, tomando como recorte empírico o estado do Rio Grande do Norte. Para tanto, foi necessária uma análise teórica e empírica, em que ao mesmo tempo buscasse apreender a coisa em estudo como nexo e sistema, sendo necessários uma pesquisa bibliográfica e um levantamento de dados primários e secundários. A tese é de que a manifestação da expansão dos serviços bancários e financeiros constitui uma dinâmica territorial dada pelos lugares a partir do arranjo normativo e técnico, invasor da vida cotidiana, constituindo uma dimensão espacial que aqui se está a chamar de Território (onto)Lógico. Território por tratar-se de uma discussão geográfica que enfatiza o controle efetivo de certas instituições bancárias sobre objetos e práticas sociais. (Onto)lógico corresponde, simultaneamente, a duas formas de ser-do-homem no mundo: 1) ser-do-espaço, daí onto (relativo ao Ser, ao fazer-se humano, pois o homem é sempre projeto que está-por-ser, assim como o é o espaço geográfico e os processos, a exemplo da expansão dos serviços bancários); 2) ser-no-espaço, que corresponde a uma lógica de apreensão do espaço: condição para uma ordem de dispersão de objetos e organizações, daí lógico (relativo ao uso do lugar mediante intencionalidade que visa apreendê-lo como campo a ser preenchido por arranjos de objetos e ações estratégicas). Como resultado desse processo tem-se o lugar enquanto base de concretização da integração financeira do território constitutivo de forma-ações bancárias herdadas (agências bancárias) e novas variáveis (correspondentes bancários e novos arranjos técnicos, científicos, informacionais e comunicacionais: computador e celular plugados à internet), cuja expressividade no plano da economia urbana caracteriza-se por elos cada vez mais intensos entre circuito superior e circuito inferior. Portanto, no território (onto)lógico, há a existência enquanto um recurso dos atores hegemônicos, realizada por uma ordem da dispersão dos fixos e das ações bancários (lógica), influenciando direta ou indiretamente na organização da existência ou (re)produção social (onto), que por sua vez também solidariza-se à forma como essa dispersão ocorre ou pode ocorrer, pois a dimensão do território enquanto abrigo dos atores hegemonizados é fundamental na realização dessa disputa territorial bancária.

Através da análise da atividade informacional na atenção Básica do SUS, ou seja, na escala do lugar, esta dissertação tem como objetivo central observar a disputa pelo conceito de saúde e de doença no âmbito da saúde brasileira, destacando, de um lado, o pensamento clínico, biomédico ou flexneriano – hegemônico, cientificamente restrito e principal quadro de referência da política de saúde no Brasil – e do outro lado uma multiplicidade de novas propostas e pensamentos críticos ao modelo vigente que possuem como ponto comum a preocupação com a saúde no contexto supra-biológico e, portanto, territorial. No primeiro capítulo destacamos com detalhes tais movimentos científicos e ideológicos, tanto num sentido mais amplo quanto na dimensão específica das políticas de informação em saúde do SUS. No segundo capítulo, analisamos o círculo descendente de informação em saúde na atenção básica, observando o funcionamento dos sistemas técnicos de informação SIAB e e-SUS. Por fim, no terceiro e último capítulo, lançamos referências para se pensar um círculo ascendente de informação em saúde, centrado a partir do lugar e pautado nas noções de autonomia, solidariedade orgânica e densidade comunicacional, possuindo como principal horizonte metodológico a organização local da produção e gestão de informação a partir do Agente Comunitário de Saúde, privilegiando dessa forma a urgência das necessidades mais contingente das pessoas em sua vida cotidiana.

O presente estudo traz uma discussão sobre a política de titulação de terras reconhecidas pertencentes aos grupos quilombolas do Pêga e Arrojado em Portalegre – RN, no sentido de investigar de que forma os quilombolas estão interessados e organizados em favor do andamento de seu processo de titulação e quais são os fatores de seu estancamento. Conjuntamente discutimos a construção das identidades e territorialidades desses grupos. Através da pesquisa qualitativa e das metodologias de entrevistas orais e semiestruturadas, priorizamos em nossa análise a fala dos sujeitos (quilombolas), não a tomando como verdade absoluta, além da fala dos representantes do poder do Estado e as relações estabelecidas entre eles no território.

Esta dissertação tem como objetivo compreender a relação entre a Ceasa-RN e os circuitos da economia urbana na cidade de Natal. Nesse sentido, busca-se contextualizar a criação das centrais de abastecimento alimentar no interior do processo de formação socioespacial do Brasil, identificando as diversas interações socioespaciais da Ceasa-RN, as quais provocam o alargamento das escalas da cidade de Natal e incitam diferentes interações com cada um dos circuitos da economia urbana.  Enfim, analisa-se como a coexistência desses circuitos em uma mesma infraestrutura definem e caracterizam a Ceasa-RN, enquanto elemento misto dos circuitos da economia urbana. Para se atingir esse objetivo, foram traçados alguns procedimentos metodológicos, tais como a pesquisa bibliográfica, as análises e as consultas aos dados secundários em documentos oficiais e institucionais, e a pesquisa empírica em fontes primárias. A pesquisa empírica corresponde ao levantamento de dados no local, ou seja, a pesquisa de campo que ocorreu através de entrevistas, aplicação de formulários e de observação.  Os resultados da pesquisa mostraram que há uma nova dinâmica, neste início de século XXI, permeando as centrais de abastecimento alimentar no Brasil, que é a questão da segurança alimentar e nutricional. Os resultados também apontam o alargamento das escalas provocados pelas centrais, através do caso da Ceasa-RN na cidade de Natal, quando o entreposto de abastecimento da capital do Rio Grande do Norte insere o município em circuitos espaciais de produção agrícola nacionais, regionais e locais. Por fim os resultados demonstraram, através do caso da Ceasa-RN, que as centrais de abastecimento alimentar se constituem em um agente misto dos circuitos da economia, não só se relacionando com ambos os circuitos, o superior e o inferior, mas também, constituídas por ambos, desempenhando e apresentando um papel híbrido.

O presente trabalho se constitui num estudo sobre a pobreza e as desigualdades socioterritoriais no Brasil, problematizando as políticas públicas sociais (a exemplo da Política Nacional da Assistência Social e o Programa Bolsa Família) tendo como referência a materialização destas no território a partir da análise da distribuição espacial do Índice de Desenvolvimento da Família (IDF) no município de Pau dos Ferros/RN. Neste sentido, o objetivo principal dessa dissertação se deu na tentativa de compreender a importância da leitura prévia do território para a reflexão sobre a pobreza em seu aspecto multidimensional e para a territorialização das políticas públicas sociais construídas no intento de minimizar a problemática da desigualdade social, observando a distribuição espacial do IDF no município de Pau dos Ferros/RN. A partir do objetivo geral traçado, fez-se uma revisão teórica sobre os temas, pobreza, desigualdades sociais e políticas públicas, no primeiro caso atentando para o aspecto multidimensional desta, advogando a importância de analisarmos a pobreza não apenas pelo crivo da renda, mas considerando outras dimensões que corroboram para a constituição do ser pobre, como moradias precárias, falta de saneamento básico e infraestrutura, o não acesso à saúde, educação e demais serviços que possibilitam o indivíduo viver com melhor dignidade. Compreendendo a importância do conhecimento prévio do território para que ocorra as devidas reflexões e intervenções na realidade territorial buscamos refletir acerca desse conceito e seus nexos com a construção e implementação das políticas públicas sociais tendo a Política Nacional de Assistência Social (PNAS) como política basilar e também o Programa Bolsa Família (PBF), uma vez que buscamos compreender sua importância a partir da visão do sujeito, ou seja, as beneficiárias do PBF no município de Pau dos Ferros. Para tanto, realizamos entrevistas orais com as beneficiárias do PBF que foram escolhidas aleatoriamente a partir das equipes dos CRAS, além da aplicação de questionários semiestruturados e abertos com gestores e assistentes sociais do município. Buscamos ainda trabalhar com alguns dados do CadÚnico para o município em estudo propondo analisar as condições sociais e econômicas das famílias cadastradas. Alguns resultados foram possíveis, a saber, é preciso que se interprete a pobreza a partir de várias dimensões para não corremos o risco de ficarmos apenas na perspectiva financeira, isto é, da renda, que embora supra o emergencial não é suficiente para transformar as condições de vida das famílias; a PNAS pode ser considerada como um avanço da política social no Brasil uma vez que possui matricialidade na família. No entanto, é preciso avançar na interpretação do território que na política e na fala dos agentes sociais, é interpretado apenas como um recorte areal onde deverão ocorrer as ações para minimizar a pobreza; por fim, o PBF é um programa de urgência moral uma vez que sana o mais emergencial que é o direito de subsistência, mas ainda não conseguiu transformar de forma profunda a pobreza no pais. 

A cana-de-açúcar constitui a principal atividade produtiva do estado de Alagoas, abrigando uma estrutura composta por 25 unidades de produção que representa a base econômica de mais da metade dos seus municípios, se constituindo no maior produtor do setor sucroalcooleiro do Norte-Nordeste, exportando seus produtos para países de diferentes continentes. Dado esse quadro de referência, buscou-se no presente trabalho, compreender a configuração do circuito espacial de produção sucroalcooleira em Alagoas a partir do uso do território, analisado à luz dos eventos mais significativos relacionados ao setor e, ainda, o conjunto de normas estabelecidas pelo Estado, através de órgãos, a exemplo do Instituto do Açúcar e Álcool (IAA), e de programas como o Programa Nacional do Álcool (Proálcool), dentre outros, que possuíam a função de estruturar e carrear recursos para o setor sucroalcooleiro. Observou-se que os investimentos realizados proporcionaram uma renovação das técnicas abrigadas no arcabouço produtivo sucroalcooleiro. Inicialmente, com a substituição dos engenhos pelas usinas e, posteriormente, o aperfeiçoamento do processo agrícola e fabril com maior aproveitamento dos subprodutos, além da integração produtiva das instâncias, especialmente com a produção de açúcar, álcool e geração de energia, intensificando uma maior participação do estado na divisão internacional do trabalho, conferindo-lhe uma estrutura organizacional segmentada pelos grandes agentes hegemônicos desse processo. Dessa forma, a configuração geográfica sucroalcooleira até então existente no território alagoano, foi reestruturada e o circuito, cada vez mais, passa a constituir movimentos multiescalares, subsidiados pelos círculos de cooperação. Contudo, tal configuração demonstrou-se subserviente ao mercado mundial, o que cada vez mais condiciona a adoção de práticas hegemônicas que se distanciam das vivências e projetos locais. A verticalidade imposta disponibiliza uma configuração que não lhe é peculiar, que apenas serve para responder aos comandos dos grandes agentes hegemônicos, caracterizando a continuidade do processo capitalista vigente. Ou seja, as empresas sucroalcooleiras usam corporativamente o território como recurso para obter mais lucratividade e assim dominar o maior número de mercados consumidores.

Norteado principalmente pelas concepções de “território usado” desenvolvida por Santos (2005) e de “reestruturação” discutida por Soja (1993), o presente trabalho, intitulado “A Reestruturação do Território da Região Fumageira de Alagoas (1890-2013)”, tem como principal objetivo compreender a estruturação e reestruturação do território alagoano a partir da expansão da atividade fumageira, configurando um território fumicultor que tem Arapiraca como centro de convergência para a dinâmica urbana e regional. Para alcançar tal objetivo, definimos alguns procedimentos metodológicos, como pesquisa de cunho bibliográfico, histórico, e empírico, considerando os usos do território pela fumicultura na região, e seu processo de reestruturação. Constatamos que a fumicultura, caracterizada como uma atividade familiar, se firmou na ‘porção’ Agreste alagoana desde o século XIX. Entretanto é a partir de 1950, quando da busca de novos mercados produtores no país, que a produção alagoana é incentivada, e inserida ao comércio internacional de tabaco, se tornando a principal base produtiva do interior do estado e responsável pela ascensão econômica da região Agreste alagoana e pela reestruturação desse território, com destaque para o município de Arapiraca, onde se concentrou as empresas multinacionais de fumo e as modernas técnicas de produção, bem como as atividades de comércio e serviços. O início da crise da produção tabagista na década de 1980 e seu aprofundamento nos anos de 1990, promoveu profundas consequências para a economia e por conseguinte produziu as condições para a reestruturação territorial da região fumicultora alagoana. A partir da crise, diante de novos usos do território, constatamos novas dinâmicas territoriais, na qual Arapiraca se reafirma como centralidade na rede urbana e regional do interior alagoano através do setor terciário, enquanto os demais municípios fumageiros, apresentando expressivas características rurais   tornaram-se cada vez mais  dependentes da influência exercida por Arapiraca, evidenciando o desigual uso do território da região fumageira de Alagoas, o que torna esse espaço um ambiente importante para o desenvolvimento de estudos e pesquisas.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo analisar a organização espacial do bairro da Ribeira em Natal/RN a partir dos dois circuitos da economia urbana. Inicialmente, discutirá os conceitos de espaço urbano, bairro e os dois circuitos de economia urbana. Em seguida, abordar-se-á uma breve discussão sobre a produção do espaço urbano de Natal, dando ênfase ao seu processo de urbanização, mostrando o papel que a atividade turística teve na sua expansão urbana. Posteriormente, fazer-se a um resgate socioespacial do bairro da Ribeira, considerando o seu papel de bairro comercial e a sua importância no processo de urbanização da cidade de Natal. Por último, analisar-se-á sua atual organização espacial a luz da teoria dos dois circuitos da economia urbana, considerando que a diferença fundamental entre as atividades dos dois circuitos está baseada principalmente na tecnologia e na organização. Obstante, utilizaram-se outras variáveis para caracterizar cada uma das atividades econômicas inseridas em cada um dos circuitos no bairro em questão, tais como, concorrência, complementaridade, publicidade, mercado entre outras. 

A utilização de energias com fontes renováveis encontram-se cada vez mais demandadas pela sociedade, principalmente a eólica - cuja matéria prima é o vento. Os investimentos em energia eólica apresentam-se expressivos no Brasil com destaque ao Nordeste e, em especial, o Rio Grande do Norte. Segundo a Empresa de Pesquisa Energética (2012), os investimentos no estado cresceram significativamente desde 2002 com um total de potência acumulada até 2013 de aproximadamente 3.400 MW. Mesmo com o início das experiências de exploração da energia eólica em 2002, ela é considerada ainda recente e requer estudos mais aprofundados que remetam às prováveis alterações no ambiente e na sociedade. Neste caso, é crescente e urgente a importância de se estudar profundamente a energia eólica ainda na fase de prospecção do empreendimento, ou seja, no início das tomadas de decisão sobre o local mais viável para a implantação destes parques. Diante do exposto, questiona-se: a partir de uma análise técnica e ambiental, como identificar áreas viáveis à instalação de um parque eólico, levando em consideração os fatores das dinâmicas ambientais relevantes na minimizarão de resultados negativos ao meio ambiente e à sociedade? Desta forma, o presente trabalho realizou um estudo de viabilidade técnica e ambiental, propondo uma metodologia de prospecção de áreas viáveis à implantação de parques eólicos em áreas costeiras. A área estudada foi um fragmento do litoral setentrional do Rio Grande do Norte e dela foram identificadas as unidades naturais da paisagem através da caracterização ambiental da área, bem como foi elaborado o mapa de cobertura do solo, de restrição de residências e áreas urbanas e das Áreas de Preservação Permanente-APPs. A fragilidade ambiental foi subdividida na fragilidade da dinâmica natural, mapeada através do relevo, solos e geologia das unidades naturais, e a fragilidade do ecossistema, originada através do mapa de cobertura do solo. Além desses mapas, foi gerado o recurso eólico da área para uma altura de 50 e 100 m. O cruzamento entre os mapas de fragilidade, APPs e restrição de residências que sobreposto aos mapas de potencial eólico forneceu o mapa de viabilidade de parques eólicos que resulta nas áreas mais propícias do ponto de vista técnico e ambiental para suas instalações. A partir desse estudo, o empreendedor poderá avaliar a continuidade ou não com os estudos nessa área e principalmente diminuirá possíveis conflitos à sociedade.

No decorrer dos séculos o espaço geográfico sofreu intensas transformações em nível mundial, passando a ser visto como mercadoria, portanto, revestido de valor de troca. Diante desta premissa, alguns geógrafos ao analisar o consumo do/no espaço têm procurado explicar como e por que a economia, a cultura, o simbólico e o material se encontram, demonstrando como os complexos significados e expressões do consumo, por sua vez conectados a outros espaços e escalas, contribuem criticamente, no entendimento da relação entre a sociedade e o espaço. É importante fazermos esta análise, pois, estes aspectos nos ajudam a compreender como o consumo penetra no espaço e na vida das pessoas, haja vista que as mais abastadas são seus principais agentes, consumindo além de suas necessidades. Nesse sentido, percebemos que o modo de produção capitalista é  responsável por produzir e reproduzir o espaço garantindo a sua acumulação e expansão, transformando as diferentes formas espaciais, produzindo a partir dessas, novas espacialidades, que envolvem desde a cultura, as tradições e os costumes da sociedade, fazendo surgir novos hábitos de consumo e entretenimento. Nesta perspectiva, percebemos que o capital e o consumo estão intrinsecamente ligados ao processo de massificação da cultura, tendo em vista a multiplicidade de objetos criados no espaço, os quais são divulgados por meio da propagação da informação e da comunicação. A cultura de massa ou Indústria Cultural, com o advento da tecnologia da comunicação e da informação, sobrepõe-se à cultura popular, transformando-a em um produto industrial, sendo a mesma elaborada pelos veículos midiáticos, os quais estão ligados ao capital industrial e financeiro. Inserimos neste contexto de consumo do/no espaço e massificação cultural, as festas de vaquejada, consideradas um fenômeno cultural para o povo nordestino brasileiro, que teve início entre os séculos XVII e XVIII nas fazendas de gado sertanejas. Observamos que as mesmas têm passado por várias transformações ao longo dos séculos, quando modificada pelo capital, tornando-se, sobretudo, uma festa ou espetáculo urbano, o qual acontece em várias cidades da região Nordeste. Diante do exposto, buscamos compreender neste trabalho as transformações que ocorreram nas festas de vaquejada a partir de 1980 a 2012, especialmente, nos eventos que acontecem em Macaíba-RN, atentando-se para suas correlações com o processo de (re)produção do capital no espaço. Portanto, considerando que as transformações deste evento são evidentes no espaço geográfico, neste trabalho, destacamos sua importância para os nordestinos, principalmente, para os sertanejos, fazendo um resgate de sua história, observando como este evento, aos poucos, foi ganhando novos elementos e valores, perdendo suas características campesinas. Notamos que ao mesmo tempo em que a vaquejada produziu um novo público, transformou-se, também, em um evento-espetáculo, sobretudo, urbano, influenciando a economia das cidades que organizam tais festas e, por conseguinte, no processo de reprodução do capital no espaço. Ademais, o evento passou a fazer parte do contexto mercantil-regional e do calendário festivo de várias cidades nordestinas.

O mercado imobiliário residencial em Mossoró se expande no presente momento gerando transformações importantes no âmbito da economia e alterando sobremaneira a configuração do espaço urbano do município. No entanto, os efeitos desse processo incidem negativamente sobre parte da população pobre da cidade, gerando e agravando uma série de problemas sociais. Esse processo torna-se ainda mais contraditório com a presença do Programa Minha Casa Minha Vida (PMCMV). Embora esse Programa tenha por finalidade central (pelo menos em tese) resolver parte do problema da escassez da habitação no país, sua implementação, intimamente vinculada à lógica do capital, estimula o mercado de imóveis, cooperando para o aumento da especulação imobiliária, contribuindo, assim, para o encarecimento do solo urbano e dos imóveis, colocando-se como impedimento para a aquisição da casa própria e da moradia digna, por parte da população carente local. Nessa perspectiva, o presente trabalho busca investigar, a natureza do atual processo de expansão do mercado imobiliário, animado em larga medida pelos recursos oriundos do PMCMV, e suas implicações sobre a dinâmica socioespacial de Mossoró, frisando, sobretudo, o aprofundamento da crise urbana e das contradições no e do espaço urbano desse município.

A cidade de Natal/RN apresenta-se como palco para múltiplas manifestações culturais, entre as quais se encontram as tribos de índios carnavalescas. O presente estudo procurará compreender a produção do carnaval destas agremiações enquanto uma manifestação de lazer e t