The Case of Rio de Janeiri

The case of

Rio de Janeiro

Source: CIA factbook

by Helia Nacif Xavier Fernanda Magalhães

Helia Nacif Xavier Fernanda Magalhães

I. INTRODUCTION: THE CITY A. URBAN CONTEXT

1. National Overview

1.1 National Urban Context The urbanisation process in Brazil took on an increased dynamism at the end of the 19th century, with cities acquiring increasing importance in the territorial organisation of the country. The industrialisation process originated in the first half of the 20th century and has always been strongly tied to urbanisation, with a direct influence on the structure and evolution of the urban network. This network is presently formed by regional systems located mainly along the coast, with particular importance in the southern and south-eastern regions, with the cities of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Belo Horizonte. This region attracted important infrastructure development – railways, the best ports, communication networks – as well as economic importance - international commercial plants, capitalist forms of production, work and consumption. The concentration of efforts and investments to support industrialisation in the main urban centres, particularly in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, during the process of economic development, led to an intense migration process. This process reached its apex in the main urban centres in the early 1980s with a combination of a decrease in birth rates and the reduction of rural-urban migration. The country now has high urbanisation rates, despite the decrease in migration to cities. According to the latest census data, of a total of 174,449,875 inhabitants, approximately 82 per cent live in cities. The territorial area of Brazil is 8,514,215.3 square kilometres, divided into five large regions – North, Northeast, Central-East, South and Southeast, with a total of 27 states and 5,551 municipalities (IBGE, Census 2000). Although the small municipalities with urban populations under 20,000 inhabitants...