Macro-metropolization in São Paulo: reterritorialization, rescaling and the city-region

Abstract

The regional planning scale is associated with transformations in the economic sphere, in which globalization and rescaling processes are fundamental aspects to the understanding of uneven development. This article discusses conceptual and empirical aspects of space metropolization processes based on the study of the São Paulo Macrometropolis. The theoretical reference is constituted by the concepts of reterritorialization and rescaling. We characterize the macrometropolitan territory in order to verify whether these concepts, proposed by Neil Brenner for the context of the European Union, can be applied to the Brazilian framework, especially to the São Paulo Macrometropolis. We conclude that this macrometropolis is an emerging state institution, rescaled for reterritorialization of capital.