Reflexões metodológicas sobre o estudo da rede urbana no Amazonas e perspectivas para a análise das cidades na Amazônia brasileira

Abstract

To study the urban network avoiding common criterias such as “polo city” or other forms of urban hierarchy was and is a challenge. In an attempt to classify and construct a typology of the urban network for the state of Amazonas, Brazil, the research carried out by NEPECAB proposed an innovative methodological approach, in which a broad empirical basis was constructed to give support and understand the urban network in the region. Delineated a set of institutional arrangements that could be compared and analyzed in aggregate form. The study classifies cities based on their similarities and differences stemming a typology for understanding the spatial dynamics. The research conducted under the NEPECAB allowed, this first time, to understand the dynamics of the urban network along the main channel of the Solimoes and Amazon, but the question posed now from a theoretical and methodological perspective is how to understand these urban centers, from the standpoint of geography, their network configuration which includes urban strategies of the population and local authorities to overcome the difficulties of access in the broadest sense of the word. What is posed as a theoretical challenge is to understand how these variables occur or not in the cities in the Amazon and how the search results can be generalized to other cities or adapt themselves to the new dynamics of these cities? To address the issues raised it is necessary to rethink the methodological procedures in the study of cities and urban networks in the Amazon, without losing the link with the national and international debate. We propose for discussion a set of new institutional arrangements, now regarded as interpretative levels that incorporate Amazonian socioecological dimensions in the analysis of cities and the urban network, to standardize data collection throughout the Amazon region to enable regional benchmarking.

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