Papéis urbanos e regionais da pequena cidade: a dinâmica socioespacial contemporânea de Itapaci (GO)

Abstract

This research addresses the urban roles played by the city of Itapaci (GO) and its regional reach, in the context of the contemporary dynamics of this small city in the center-north of Goiás. The aim was to understand the processes that mark the contemporary urban dynamics of Itapaci, from the urban and regional roles it plays in articulating with other small cities in the regional urban network. To achieve the proposal, a quali-quantitative approach was adopted, with three investigative steps. The first was based on a literature review; the second was based on document analysis of census data, statistics, photographs, laws and decrees; and the third was structured on field research, with photographic records, sketches and interviews with the Itapacina population and with two managers at the municipal level, representatives of the secondary and tertiary sectors of the economy. Although it is characteristically a small town, Itapaci has established in recent decades a considerable socioeconomic dynamic, discussed here based on the reflection of the process of socio-spatial formation of the city and its municipality, and its insertion in the regional urban network, particularized by its structure in the articulation of small towns. Itapaci, then, reveals itself playing a diversity of urban roles in the complexity of its contemporaneity, some of which are seen by the Itapacina population, and even by municipal managers, as insufficient in meeting the daily demands of the Itapacina population. Contradictory, some of Itapaci's urban roles extend to the regional level, meeting the demands of the population of other neighboring cities and their respective municipalities, which are territorially articulated. Reflecting on the past, in order to understand the present, stimulates thinking about future possibilities based on the contribution of Geographical Science, based on the weaknesses and suggestions indicated by the Itapacina population. Such action allows us to think about some potential and alternatives, envisioning an urban reconstruction in a utopian horizon, with small cities with better living conditions for their population.