Center-periphery relations and socio-spatial fragmentation in Brazilianmedium-sized cities: Mossoró/RN and Ribeirão Preto/SP

Abstract

The aim is to discuss the socio-spatial forms and processes in medium-sized Brazilian cities based on the concept of socio-spatial fragmentation. From a specifically dichotomous social division of space, center and periphery, we are now witnessing the complexification and heterogeneity of these spaces, structuring a socio-spatial fragmentation process. The cities of Mossor & oacute;, in Rio Grande do Norte, and Ribeir & atilde;o Preto, in S & atilde;o Paulo, highlight this phenomenon and they represent the process of socio-spatial fragmentation in Brazil, based on transformations in the urban structure and the constitution of a new social division of space. New housing developments for the elite and for residents of state-funded low-cost have been built on the periphery. They are associated to a new centrality of segmented commerce and services, which are nonetheless separated symbolically, socially and economically, either by fences and walls or through inequality and appropriation of the city. In order to capture these processes, this article used excerpts from semi-structured interviews with residents of popular habitats and Closed Residential Spaces (ERFs), cartographic systematization to analyze the representation of fragmentation, a bibliographic survey and the comparative analytical dimension between cities, in terms of socio-spatial fragmentation. The idea of this study, therefore, is to assume that new centralities and peripheries have been produced and indicate trends towards the production of more fractured and less connected spaces, overcoming the paradigm of a center-periphery urban fabric, with strong consequences for the livability and democratic process of cities.