PERMANENCE AND TRANSFORMATION OF THE CITY CENTER IN MEDIUM-SIZED CITIES

Campina Grande/PB and Caruaru/PE

Abstract

 The studies on medium-sized cities have allowed highlighting the processes of shaping the central areas of the cities researched by the Network of Researchers on Medium-Sized Cities (ReCiMe). These areas constitute, even with some space-time dissonances, what has been termed as the main center, as it is where commerce and service activities are concentrated, as well as a notable density in land occupation. The article refers to research that selected two cities in the Northeast of Brazil: Caruaru in Pernambuco and Campina Grande in Paraíba. The choice was made due to the consonance in their respective urbanization processes, their integration into the same socio-spatial formation, as well as their representation as important centralities in the Brazilian urban network. The main objective is to recover the historical process of constitution of the central areas of the two cities and to analyze their current dynamics, observing the continuities and transformations of their respective areas, as well as the particularities and singularities between such realities. The methodology used involved empirical observation, documentary research, analysis of maps and satellite images, and elaboration of cartographic representation. It is noted that despite the emergence of “new” centralities, the central area remains the one where the population from different neighborhoods converges, in correspondence with historical landmarks, as well as its importance as the main intra-urban centrality. However, there are singularities in each of the processes of shaping their centers and the dynamics of these spaces today.