The metamorphosis of São Paulo: the evidence of a new world of dispersed agglomerations

Abstract

The space Metropolization process is the guiding principle of the present metropolitan metamorphosis.  This process must be understood as a superior stage of urbanization. Particularly, in the case of São Paulo, the Metropolization process is closely related to the process of industrial decentralization that has expanded and intensified the industrialization in the surroundings of the city and, at the same time, reaffirmed the primacy of its nucleus: the city of São Paulo, center, by excellence, of capital management. This metropolitan expansion has only been possible because of the development of circulation networks and incorporeal
networks of information and communication, enabling both the industrial production and their complementary activities. In order to understand the present metropolitan metamorphosis, which forms an immense territory of dispersed agglomerations, is necessary to analyze the space-time relationship not only linked to the territorial scale, as in the tradition of urban analysis, but also considers the topological scale that is connected to the non-material networks and has redefined the notion of proximity and distance.