Identifying Functional Urban Regions with Spatial Analysis Techniques: the case of the Urban Agglomeration of Piracicaba

• Grant number: 14/23967-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: December 01, 2014
• End date: November 30, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Urban and Regional Planning - Methods and Techniques of Urban and Regional Planning
• Principal Investigator: Gustavo Garcia Manzato
• Grantee: João Antonio Camargo Matiolli
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia (FE). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Bauru. Bauru , SP, Brazil

Abstract

One of the basic conditions for the formation of metropolitan regions is the existence of effective communication between neighboring municipalities. As a result, transport plays an important role in the process. As transport flows between municipalities are rarely known, especially in developing countries, the definition of metropolitan areas is often based on other variables, such as demographic information. However, these definitions are mostly based on political and administrative aspects, not taking into consideration quantitative methods. This research project seeks to assess the recent case of the creation of the Urban Agglomeration of Piracicaba in São Paulo. To this end, spatial analysis techniques will be employed, namely: spatial statistics and spatial modeling, applied to indicators of population density and road infrastructure supply. This methodological approach has produced very satisfactory results for the definition and monitoring of metropolitan regions, especially considering the lack of more specific data for this purpose.