SMALL CITIES IN TOCANTINS: CENTRALITIES AND SPATIAL INTERACTIONS OF THE URBAN NETWORK

Abstract

From their insertions in urban networks, small cities in Tocantins can be classified into three different types. Subregional cities that offer goods and services for diverse municipalities of the proximities and also attract some regional and national retailers with strong specialization to meet the demands of the modern area. Some of them, such as Guaraí, Paraiso do Tocantins e Porto Nacional are transformed in agribusiness cities. The second type of small city is the zonal action one, which works in some fields of merchandise and services distribution for neighboring municipalities. Finally, there are local cities, whose functions could serve the population of their own municipality in a precarious manner. Thus, this paper aims to analyze the roles and spatial interactions of Tocantins small cities in the segment of the urban state network. This research was made with theoretical review and analysis of several secondary data, especially the publication of Regiões de Influência das Cidades (IBGE, 2020a), Cadastro de Empresas Exportadoras e Importadoras (BRASIL 2020b, BRASIL 2020c), Ranking Empresas Mais (ESTADÃO 2020), Google Maps images through the function of Street View (2019) and some information obtained from the websites of dozens of companies.