The sprawl dynamics in Medium-sized cities. Study of the city of Erechim -RS, 2009 – 2019

Abstract

In the last decade, medium-sized cities showed a higher growth rate when compared to metropolises. This growth reflects in considerable expansions of its urban limits. By the observation, the sprawl dynamics not accompanied by investments in infrastructure and normative updating, intensifying in medium-sized cities, the inequalities already observed in metropolises. To understand this dynamic, the research explores the logic that configures sprawl in medium-sized cities, from the perspective of the main aspects that structure and regulate it. To this end, the research methodology covered as an empirical cut, the city of Erechim -RS, which between 2009 and 2019, showed a significant expansion of the urban perimeter, in addition to 100 new land divisions. The analysis was segmented in four aspects: the sprawl conditions; urban legislation in this process; the impacts of land-use conversion on land prices, and the morphology of expanded areas. The results showed how the space-producing agents benefit from the urban legislation, provoking socio spatial segregation in addition to another logic of expansion that may be common to other medium-sized cities and also, to metropolises.

Keywords: urban sprawl, medium-sized cities, urban law, urban segregation.