Mudanças socioespaciais e tendências do desenvolvimento no Recôncavo Sul da Bahia / Brasil (1970-2016):o papel de Santo Antônio de Jesus e de Cruz das Almas

Abstract

This study is part of the debate on regional development and aims to analyze how the main political, economic and social processes, both endogenous and exogenous processes, support the recent socio-spatial organization of the most dynamic nuclei in Bahia RecôncavoSul - Cruz das Almas and Santo Antônio de Jesus - have impacted on the development of the region between 1970 and 2015. It was based on the premise that the South Reconcavo corresponds to a region under the integrated command of the above mentioned cities constituting a peri-metropolitan space, already which is well articulated to Salvador metropolitan region and Feira de Santana Metropolitan Region and it has determined its recent dynamics and its development prospects. As a result, there are four integrated objectives that correspond to evaluating RecôncavoSul centrality level and the regional intermediation role, characterizing the coverage scales of the flows that establishes in the regional and state ambiances; to identify the current configuration of the region's expansion vectors, evaluating the influences of existing networks, mainly transport and communications, and the articulations between demographic size, function and organization of the regional space; to characterize the productive systems and their structuring axes of the municipalities of Cruz das Almas and Santo Antônio de Jesus, identifying their real capacity to offer goods and services, classifying them as to complexity, highlighting their potentialities, risks and strengths for regional development, and to identify mechanisms of state policies and private management from territorial bases and both endogenous and exogenous planning spaces, articulated with the state and national spheres. To achieve these objectives, the theoretical contribution came from was explanatory questions about region, development and regional development. The research was based on documentary analysis and field work. Official data of these municipalities and the state were collected, which allowed analyzing the composition of local and regional production systems. In the field work, questionnaires were applied and interviews were carried out with agents producing the socio-spatial dynamics of the researched context. Among the main results achieved, the study showed that Santo Antônio de Jesus and Cruz das Almas played a central role in the building of the recent regional area of the RecôncavoSul, having as main force the commercial and service sector, based on the articulation of endogenous and exogenous factors, which represents an effective development trend for the region.