Urban Regional Networks and Territorial Development: an analysis of “Minas Gerais” Northwest Territory in recent years

Abstract

This article aims to show that the establishment of a rural area as a cutout for implementation of public policies for development needs to consider the configuration of the urban network of the municipalities that compose it, identifying what are the hierarchical relationships between the municipalities that make up the territory and if the most dynamic centers radiate influence to the whole. We present the case study of the Northwest Territory of Minas, where were identified various limits for the implementation of territorial development policies. In this article it is shown that such limits are manifested largely because the territory groups municipalities that have different polarizations and establish differentiated functional relationships within the regional urban network. It was found that in this territorial clipping are articulated different social production systems and that the delimitation of the territory does not match even with the regionalization of state and federal agencies.