Small cities of the estuarine region of Amazon river: economic flow, urban growth and new old urbanities of Ponta de Pedras

Abstract

The intensification of urbanization process in the Amazon in recent decades caused many socio-spatial-environmental modifications. The emergence of cities as an important element within the regional space is one of these changes. Predominantly, these cities are small towns, with less than twenty thousand inhabitants, with infrastructure weak or even no existence of this, their economy are based on transferring of public resources and these cities are deficient in economic activities characterized as urban. In this sense, this paper aims to discuss the urban specificities of small towns of the Estuarine Region of Amazon River and to study the importance and characteristics of these cities in the regional economy, focusing on the city of Ponta de Pedras, located in Para State, Marajo Island.