THE MIDDLE CITIES OF MATO GROSSO: FUNCTIONS AND INTERSCALAR SPATIAL INTERACTIONS

Abstract

The ascension of middle cities in Mato Grosso is linked to the expansion of the agricultural border from the 1980. The segment of the urban state network went through deep transformations influenced by federal investments related to Superintendence of Development of the Central-West (SUDECO), the implementation of a structural technical network, and the growth of activities based on agribusiness and the real estate market with the arising of dynamic cities that perform relevant functions of intermediation in the urban network. In front of that, this study aims to analyze the roles and spatial interactions of those middle cities in the urban network segment of Mato Grosso. This research is based on a review of the notion of middle city, microdata of the publication of “Regiões de influência das Cidades”, Ranking of Empresas Mais de 2022 do Estadão, field research and other secondary data detailed in the introduction. The results of the work indicate the urban centers such as Rondonópolis, Sinop, Tangará da Serra, and Barra do Garças come to emerge in trading and agri-business with the attraction of big economical national and international groups, which establish interscalar spatial interactions and offer public services to broad regions of influences.