The city of Macaíba in the process of metropolization of Natal
Keywords: Urbanization. Metropolitan region of Natal. Urban space. Macaíba.
The present research is situated in the perspective of the complex process of Brazilian urbanization, with inequality and spatial selectivity as its fundamental characteristics. Milton Santos (1993; 2014a; 2014b; 2015; 2021) points out that the uses of territory correspond to the historical moment in which a given space is inserted and the technical progress incremented in these uses. In this sense, the process of formation of the Potiguar urban system, based on the uses that were put on the territory, was concentrated in the capital, creating a macrocephalic urbanization. However, the tendency to deconcentration of urban activities from the capital has inserted the municipalities of the functional region of the Metropolitan Region of Natal into this dynamic. The municipality of Macaíba receives urban equipment of scientific, technological, and industrial value that stimulates the expansion of this urban-metropolitan cohesion. In this way, how do these structures dialogue with the city and what is their stage of integration with the Metropolitan Region of Natal? This paper aims to analyze the urban dynamics of the city of Macaíba, highlighting the process of production of urban space and its insertion in the recent metropolitan dynamics. This research has a qualitative and quantitative character, proposing to use methodological procedures that comprise literature review and systematic bibliographic review; documentary research, incorporating primary and secondary data; elaboration of cartographic products and semi-structured interviews.
Keywords: Urbanization. Metropolitan region of Natal. Urban space. Macaíba.