Urbanización, Dinámica Económica y Transformaciones Territoriales en las Ciudades Intermedias de Santa Cruz do Sul (Brasil) y San Carlos De Bariloche (Argentina)

Abstract

The topic of urbanization and territorial transformations in two Latin American intermediate cities is addressed: Santa Cruz do Sul, in the central regionof Rio Grande do Sul-Brazil, and San Carlos de Bariloche, in the northern region of Patagonia, Río Negro-Argentina. Similarities and particularities in the urbanization process are analyzed, highlighting the dynamics and recent economic changes, the regional centrality and spatial transformations experienced by both cities. Methodologically, based on the concepts of intermediate cities and social production of urban space, secondary data on urbanization and the urban economy collected by IBGE in Brazil andINDEC in Argentina is analyzed. The process of urbanization of both medium sized cities is amplified and complexed as a result of their connection with global productive chains, such as tourism and tobacco, but also of changes in their urban economies andspatial dynamics through processes of urban expansion, fragmentation and segregation.