IBGE: Vitória, Florianópolis and Campinas become metropolises

Vitória (ES), Florianópolis (SC) and Campinas (SP) became a metropolis, according to the survey Regions of Influence of Cities (Regic), based on data from 2018, which the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) released on Thursday (25). The three cities became among the current 15 Brazilian metropolises. With the rise of Campinas, the only municipality that is not a state capital, São Paulo became the first unit of the federation to have two metropolises. According to IBGE, Vitória, Florianópolis and Campinas reached the level of metropolis because they increased the number of companies and public institutions, attracting very significant population contingents from other cities to access goods and services. The Manager of Networks and Geographic Flows of IBGE, Bruno Hidalgo, highlighted the economic activities that boosted the high number of companies in the new metropolises. He recalled that Campinas is a relevant technological and logistical hub, cut by important highways, with one of the main Brazilian universities – the State University of Campinas (Unicamp). The capital of Espírito Santo is home to the Port of Tubarão, one of the most important in the country, with an export of iron ore. The state has oil production, steel and pulp. In the case of Florianópolis, says the researcher, not only is tourism important for the economy, but the state is home to agroindustry, naval production and technology companies. São Paulo, Brasília, Rio de Janeiro, Belém, Belo Horizonte, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Goiânia, Porto Alegre, Recife, Salvador and Manaus complete the group of metropolises. Among the regional capitals, there are 32 new cities in this category, totaling 97. The state of São Paulo showed the largest absolute increase, from 12 to 20 regional capitals. Mato Grosso and Rondônia, which had only Cuiabá and Porto Velho as regional capitals, now have two more cities at this level, respectively, Sinop and Rondonópolis; and Cacoal and Ji-Paraná. Goiás, which had none, now has Annapolis as the regional capital. Bruno Hidalgo drew attention to the fact that the regional capitals of Goiás, Mato Grosso and Rondônia are linked to agribusiness fronts. The research also showed the distance to be traveled by the population of a given place to purchase products and services in other cities. To attend higher education, the average displacement was 92 kilometers (km) while for cultural activities, the study shows that the average was 66 km. For sports activities, the average is 73 km. According to the survey, there is a great diffusion of the demand for higher education courses in the territory, with medium-sized cities attracting students beyond the state capitals. "It's a theme that depends on the state and the region, but in general, it has a presence of important intermediate centers in relation to other research topics," Hidalgo said. Going to airports provides the longest average travel distance, with 174 km – considering straight measurements of connections between cities. According to IBGE, as airports are present in a small number of urban centers, Brazilians need to move more to access this service. The state that recorded the highest average displacement was Mato Grosso, with 284 km on average, followed by the Amazon, with 273 km. At the other extreme, the states that provided the smallest displacements are those of small territorial area, such as Sergipe (74 km) and Alagoas (114 km). Road and waterway connections have high capillarity. For this reason, the national average of displacement for road and waterway transport was 75 km, considering the measurements of the connections between the cities in a straight line. For high complexity health services, the displacement of the population between cities was 155 km, while for health services of medium and low complexity was 72 km. The average displacement of the population to buy electronics and furniture was 73 km. According to IBGE, data on health services and clothing and electronics purchases were anticipated in April and May, respectively, to help combat the covid-19 pandemic. The research, conducted every ten years by IBGE, identifies and analyzes the Brazilian urban network, establishing the hierarchy of urban centers and regions of influence of cities. The result shows the way in which cities relate to each other, through the displacement of people in search of goods and services, as well as by the links between headquarters and branches of multi-localized companies and public institutions.