Povoações, freguesias e vilas na Paraíba Colonial: Pombal e Sousa, 1697-1800

The towns presently named Pombal and Sousa, located in the hinterland of the State of Paraíba, Brazil, still keep vestiges of the colonization process they went through along the 18th and 19th centuries, when they both emerged as settlement nuclei in the extreme West of the then captaincy of Paraíba and attained the status of freguesia and vila in a later period. This research aims to comprehend the process of urban formation and development of the colonial urban nuclei of Pombal and Sousa as they became povoados (hamlets), freguesias (parishes) and vilas (small urban communities with a local government), according to territorial expansion policies implemented by the Portuguese government from 1697 to 1800. The choice of the two urban settlements for this survey lies in the fact that they were part of the great conquest and colonization program undertaken by the Portuguese Crown. Another aspect that was considered was the fact that those towns are the oldest urban nuclei of Paraíba s hinterland. They came into being as early as in the times of the colony, thus producing a favorable environment to the study of the changes that occurred in the captaincy s hinterland scenery resulting from the process of formation and development of the colonial urban space. Three fundamental categories of analysis were defined since they have a direct bearing upon the urban configuration of the two colonization nuclei: povoado, freguesia and vila. The three of them are related to civil and ecclesiastic jurisdictions. Field, documentation and bibliography surveys were undertaken in order to develop the study. They allowed for the finding of vestiges of the old, colonial urban structures and for the development of theoretical analysis based on present-day studies of issues relating to the colonial urban history. The study purposes were, therefore, to try to understand how the old urban nuclei of Pombal and Sousa fit in the territorial expansion policies undertaken by the Portuguese government; to relate the process of urban formation and development of such nuclei with the categories of analysis povoação-freguesia-vila by discussing the relations and influences they exert over one another and their territory, as well as to unveil, as much as possible, the configuration the urban spaces that were shaped along the 18th century

O terciário (re) desenhando a periferia: a região administrativa norte de Natal/RN, na última década do século XX, servicializada na Av. Dr. João Medeiros Filho

The tertiary sector has been (re)defining and (re)qualifying, in an impacting way, the urban spaces in the cities, introducing new elements for the discussion of the relationship center/periphery. In Natal, as an inducing economic activity of its development, it conforms to the new needs of the capital, expanding, being materialized through several processes and spatial forms. We aim at analyzing one of those processes, which has taken its Northern Administrative Area to (re)define the design of its urban space, through the actions developed by the agents involved with the spatialization of the tertiary activities, at the same time as it redimensions its role as a periphery of Natal, contributing to the study of the recent and growing transformations of the Brazilian capitals. The studied district corresponds to 39.4% of the municipal area and, until recently, was composed by precarious reproduction spaces, unprovided of relevant economical activities. After the boom of the development of extensive housing complexes by SFH/BNH, the area, gradually stopped being a dependent area, and it imposed itself as an economically participant region, with the increase of the trade and services sectors, as well as a favorable place for the appearance of new activities. Its reflexes are noticeable in the achieved spatial configuration. As the main road to induct changes, Dr. João Medeiros Filho Avenue presents these new tendencies in the production of the intraurban space, concentrating the largest goods and services equipments of the area, through investments of the private and public sectors, which guarantee the capital allocation for the construction of a new centrality

Configurando a cidade contemporânea em Natal : os processos espaciais em Ponta Negra

This dissertation is about the spatial configuration in Natal and processes in the Ponta Negra neighborhood today. Ponta Negra has undergone a number of critical social and spatial changes due to tourism development after the 1990s. It is of special interest to consider the intensification of real estate investment after 2000, when the new airport terminal, located in the neighboring municipality of Parnamirim, was in use. Ponta Negra is the place where most tourists go to, so attracting considerable public investments. New agents of transformation have produced change in the neighborhood as well. The present study aims at analysing the spatial processes in this part of the city. Here, the spatial configuration that resulted from extended real estate investments, both public and private, in recent years, is analysed in detail. The study identifies the multually differentiated, however internally homogenous areas. The concepts of production of space, contemporanean urban development and spatial dynamics are discussed. The research is based on document analysis and field work. Results were plotted to maps and tables. A detailed analysis of the spatial processes in the Ponta Negra neighborhood is undertaken as a conclusion, considering the contemporanean global scenario

Entre serras e sertões A(s) (trans)formaç(ões) de centralidade(s) da Região Metropolitana do Cariri/CE

This study reviews the spatial configuration from the road network of an urban compound formed by the cities of Crato, Juazeiro do Norte and Barbalha (the Crajubar - core of the Cariri metropolitan region, in the State of Ceará, Brazil), in order to establish nexus (or relations) between different levels of accessibility and the formation/ transformation and specialization of centralities in local and metropolitan scales. Stemming from the Social Logic of Space theoretical and operational apparatus, the study explores modeling possibilities (with axial lines, segments and lines of continuity) which is then confronted to empirical observations concerning movement flows and land use, within a Geographic Information System database. At different scales of analysis, the results suggest evidences of continuity were found in the permanence of intra-urban centres and sub-centres within each town, whereas evidences of change pointed out to the formation of a new centrality of metropolitan magnitude in the neighbourhood referred to as the Triângulo, in the municipality of Juazeiro, where high levels of topological accessibility coincides with the appearance of new business buildings as well as with the emergence of urban equipment of a scale more adequate to meet a regional demand

Praia de Ponta Negra: uma abordagem da paisagem costeira de 1970 a 2010, Natal/RN

With process urbanization process the Brazilian cities have been goin through, Natal/RN does not differ from the other ones, it has had a fast, inordinate and planned urbanization, but not applied, it has caused a high increase of social environmental problems. One of the worrying problems observed is the change in the coastal landscape, which has caused serious damage to the city‟s population, more specifically, of Ponta Negra beach neighborhood. For the geographical studies, the issue, concerning the occupation of the beaches that has been getting higher and higher in the last decades is extremely important because these, in addition to being used as homes in the new urban configuration, have incorporated new ways of environmental interference, without a simultaneous advance of knowledge which would be necessary for a more suitable and rational use of litoral spaces. Thus, the current assignment aimed to focus the coastal landscape of Ponta Negra Beach, in the city of Natal/RN, checking and analyzing the effects caused by anthropic and natural action, and the way it reflects in the quality of life of the resident, working population and of the frequenters as well as the landscape transformations in the area which is object of study, from 1970 through 2010. The methodology used followed to stages, the first concerned the theoretical work bibliographic surveying and composition; and second one the empirical work marking of the environmental characterization and application of the questionnaires. So, we can measure that Ponta Negra, is very susceptible to environmental changes, the ones caused by the natural dynamics of the beach, as well as the human actions (society) in this really fragile and mutable space, so it needs, a more profound systematic study about the coastal landscape. In order to reach a minimization of the change of the landscapes in the coastal zones there must be an integrated management of the environments, based on the planning of actions and territorial reordination of the occupations of these so important spaces, environmentally, as well as socioeconomically. Whereas, only this way, we will have a sustentable development and a suitable use of that space

Povoações, freguesias e vilas na Paraíba Colonial: Pombal e Sousa, 1697-1800

The towns presently named Pombal and Sousa, located in the hinterland of the State of Paraíba, Brazil, still keep vestiges of the colonization process they went through along the 18th and 19th centuries, when they both emerged as settlement nuclei in the extreme West of the then captaincy of Paraíba and attained the status of freguesia and vila in a later period. This research aims to comprehend the process of urban formation and development of the colonial urban nuclei of Pombal and Sousa as they became povoados (hamlets), freguesias (parishes) and vilas (small urban communities with a local government), according to territorial expansion policies implemented by the Portuguese government from 1697 to 1800. The choice of the two urban settlements for this survey lies in the fact that they were part of the great conquest and colonization program undertaken by the Portuguese Crown. Another aspect that was considered was the fact that those towns are the oldest urban nuclei of Paraíba s hinterland. They came into being as early as in the times of the colony, thus producing a favorable environment to the study of the changes that occurred in the captaincy s hinterland scenery resulting from the process of formation and development of the colonial urban space. Three fundamental categories of analysis were defined since they have a direct bearing upon the urban configuration of the two colonization nuclei: povoado, freguesia and vila. The three of them are related to civil and ecclesiastic jurisdictions. Field, documentation and bibliography surveys were undertaken in order to develop the study. They allowed for the finding of vestiges of the old, colonial urban structures and for the development of theoretical analysis based on present-day studies of issues relating to the colonial urban history. The study purposes were, therefore, to try to understand how the old urban nuclei of Pombal and Sousa fit in the territorial expansion policies undertaken by the Portuguese government; to relate the process of urban formation and development of such nuclei with the categories of analysis povoação-freguesia-vila by discussing the relations and influences they exert over one another and their territory, as well as to unveil, as much as possible, the configuration the urban spaces that were shaped along the 18th century

O terciário (re) desenhando a periferia: a região administrativa norte de Natal/RN, na última década do século XX, servicializada na Av. Dr. João Medeiros Filho

The tertiary sector has been (re)defining and (re)qualifying, in an impacting way, the urban spaces in the cities, introducing new elements for the discussion of the relationship center/periphery. In Natal, as an inducing economic activity of its development, it conforms to the new needs of the capital, expanding, being materialized through several processes and spatial forms. We aim at analyzing one of those processes, which has taken its Northern Administrative Area to (re)define the design of its urban space, through the actions developed by the agents involved with the spatialization of the tertiary activities, at the same time as it redimensions its role as a periphery of Natal, contributing to the study of the recent and growing transformations of the Brazilian capitals. The studied district corresponds to 39.4% of the municipal area and, until recently, was composed by precarious reproduction spaces, unprovided of relevant economical activities. After the boom of the development of extensive housing complexes by SFH/BNH, the area, gradually stopped being a dependent area, and it imposed itself as an economically participant region, with the increase of the trade and services sectors, as well as a favorable place for the appearance of new activities. Its reflexes are noticeable in the achieved spatial configuration. As the main road to induct changes, Dr. João Medeiros Filho Avenue presents these new tendencies in the production of the intraurban space, concentrating the largest goods and services equipments of the area, through investments of the private and public sectors, which guarantee the capital allocation for the construction of a new centrality

Configurando a cidade contemporânea em Natal : os processos espaciais em Ponta Negra

This dissertation is about the spatial configuration in Natal and processes in the Ponta Negra neighborhood today. Ponta Negra has undergone a number of critical social and spatial changes due to tourism development after the 1990s. It is of special interest to consider the intensification of real estate investment after 2000, when the new airport terminal, located in the neighboring municipality of Parnamirim, was in use. Ponta Negra is the place where most tourists go to, so attracting considerable public investments. New agents of transformation have produced change in the neighborhood as well. The present study aims at analysing the spatial processes in this part of the city. Here, the spatial configuration that resulted from extended real estate investments, both public and private, in recent years, is analysed in detail. The study identifies the multually differentiated, however internally homogenous areas. The concepts of production of space, contemporanean urban development and spatial dynamics are discussed. The research is based on document analysis and field work. Results were plotted to maps and tables. A detailed analysis of the spatial processes in the Ponta Negra neighborhood is undertaken as a conclusion, considering the contemporanean global scenario

Entre serras e sertões A(s) (trans)formaç(ões) de centralidade(s) da Região Metropolitana do Cariri/CE

This study reviews the spatial configuration from the road network of an urban compound formed by the cities of Crato, Juazeiro do Norte and Barbalha (the Crajubar - core of the Cariri metropolitan region, in the State of Ceará, Brazil), in order to establish nexus (or relations) between different levels of accessibility and the formation/ transformation and specialization of centralities in local and metropolitan scales. Stemming from the Social Logic of Space theoretical and operational apparatus, the study explores modeling possibilities (with axial lines, segments and lines of continuity) which is then confronted to empirical observations concerning movement flows and land use, within a Geographic Information System database. At different scales of analysis, the results suggest evidences of continuity were found in the permanence of intra-urban centres and sub-centres within each town, whereas evidences of change pointed out to the formation of a new centrality of metropolitan magnitude in the neighbourhood referred to as the Triângulo, in the municipality of Juazeiro, where high levels of topological accessibility coincides with the appearance of new business buildings as well as with the emergence of urban equipment of a scale more adequate to meet a regional demand