ECCENTRIC CITIES OR NEW PERIPHERIES?

Abstract

Changes set in motion by the third industrial revolution, affected the spatial distribution of production and population, challenging established conceptions of centralities and urban networks. Our goal is to discuss the changing notion of centralities within contemporary urbanization, supported by some empirical evidence from the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte in Brazil. Hence following a theoretical approach on centralities, poles and positioning, the spatial context of the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte is explored as it is experiencing an increasing spatial dispersion of economic activities, population and political power against an historical backdrop of strong center-periphery relationships. Finally as a closure after analyzing Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Region spatial outcome and its perspectives, some questions are enrolled to help to understand the challenges posed to metropolitan planning usually prevailing at local/metropolitan level, in a context of economic articulation with more general global process and socio-environmental and political requirement.