MEDIUM CITIES: METHODOLOGICAL CONSTRUCTION AND ANALYTICAL PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

The cooling of metropolization and the emergence of new urban centralities, fruit of the deconcentration process of Brazilian industry, supported a debate on the national urban situation and the multiple uses of space. In view of this, medium-sized cities are one of the main elements that permeate the discussions inherent in the urban network of the country, especially with regard to its epistemological basis. Based on this premise, this article aims to analyze the conceptual diversity applied to medium cities, from the perspective of the factors that characterize them, as well as understand the role played by these cities in the regional context where they are inserted. As a method, the integrative review is adopted, with the time cut of the last two decades. Thus, from the analysis of qualitative data, a multiconceptual and functional theoretical arrangement was prepared on the medium cities. Moreover, even in view of the plurality of its conceptual basis, there is consensus among researchers that medium-sized cities are the true centers of intermediation between small and large cities.