Jequié: dinâmicas e retrações urbanas

Abstract

Studies about city development attract attention and encourage debates in several areas of knowledge. In Brazil, such studies gain relevance with the implantation of universities and the Brazilian state structuring. To understand the city it is not enough to live in it or to observe it. It is necessary to know its geography, history, and dynamics. This research analyzes the transformations in the city of Jequie, in the State of Bahia, considering the periods of dynamism and socioeconomic downturns. The method of historical approach was adopted, from the perspective of Urban Geography, specifically Historical Urban Geography. To better approximate and understand the city's processes and spatial forms, primary and secondary sources were sought and analyzed through bibliographical, documentary, and field research. The principal social agents that acted in its territorial development modeling processes were identified. This text has four chapters, plus the final considerations, references, and appendix. In the introductory chapter, the literature review on the object of study, the city of Jequie, was elaborated. In the second chapter, the theoretical-conceptual and methodological framework that bases this study development was presented, emphasizing the contributions of Milton Santos, Pedro de Almeida Vasconcelos, and Roberto Lobato Corrêa. In the third chapter, the antecedents of the formation of the city were analyzed. Then, a periodization was elaborated to understand its trajectory, considering three periods, in which the historical and geographical context, the actions of the social agents, and the territorial development of the city were analyzed. In the fourth chapter, an analysis of Jequie's spatial structure was made, highlighting the organization of economic and social spaces, housing occupations, and its territorial development axes. In this perspective, it was concluded that the transformations in the urban space of Jequié increased the differentiation of the space, providing the formation of different territories, making evident the need for social agents, with emphasis on the actions of the State, which needs to take measures concerning infrastructure, mainly in the sectors of transport, education, health, leisure, sanitation, and housing and in stimulating the supply of work and income.