CIDADE MÉDIA, POLARIZAÇÃO REGIONAL E SETOR DE EDUCAÇÃO SUPERIOR: ESTUDO DE MONTES CLAROS, NO NORTE DE MINAS GERAIS

Abstract

The medium-sized cities in Brazil may be thought as “intermediation centers”, defining new roles towards the current Brazilian territorial organization. The concern about medium-sized cities in Brazil has its origins in the 1970’s, especially from the formulation and implementation of governmental programs aimed at the segment of urban network through the National Policy of Urban Development (PNDU) that was part of the II National Plan of Brazilian Development (II PND). The medium cities grow and spread following a dynamic of intense flow of goods, capitals and uses. Accordingly, the spaces are changed, the activities move intra and interregionally. In Montes Claros, a medium-sized city in the North of Minas Gerais, the city growth, resulting from the population growth and from the expansion of urban tissue, has caused the emergence of various types of functions related to services and trade. The city’s economy, initially based on agriculture and livestock (17 th century), experienced, after the 1970’s, a process of diversification and specialization along with the population growth. Thus, the present study aimed to analyze the higher education sector of Montes Claros as a potentiating element of its current economic dynamic, mainly with the diversification of trade and service sectors. Thereby, Montes Claros has become a convergence center in which the polarized cities use its various services redefining its spatial organization, its regional functions, as well as its role as a medium-sized city of a big regional scope.