Configuraciones de ciudades en la Amazonía brasileña: el caso de Coari en el Amazonas

Abstract

This article presents theoretical approaches on the concepts of rural and urban in the Western Amazon. The methodology used is a literature review and a case study. The rural and the urban are relevant themes in the investigations of the Group of Studies and Research on Territorial and Urban Planning, of the Federal University of Pará, as well as the discussions of the Center of Studies and Research of the Cities in the Brazilian Amazon of the Federal University of Amazonas. We analyze the case of the city of Coari in Amazonas, which underwent socio-spatial transformations since the arrival of the oil industry, when the financial transfer to the City Hall, referring to the royalties resources, begins. It discusses the transformations that have occurred and, consequently, how the theoretical concepts of rural and urban cannot be applied in their entirety, considering that the region of the western Amazon has certain particularities such as: the relationship with the forest and with the rivers still remains alive in the daily life of the population of Coari and, at the same time, the city's economy is linked to the oscillations of the international oil market, maintaining a culture of sponsorship and political patronage.