THE URBAN SYSTEM, CENTRALITIES AND THE USE OF URBAN SPACE IN MIDDLE CITIES

Abstract

This paper is structured into three parts. In the first part, we present a discussion about the center concept and its role for  retailers. Up next, we discuss the formation of sub-centers defining new centralities to show how the city is restructured in response to the changes at different scales. The redefinition in commercial location and the performance in areas other than the city center enables the formation of new centers and, as a consequence, their roles as new centralities. Finally, the displacement of people in their consumption actions reveals how mobility presents itself in urban space. As case studies, we have chosen the cities of Presidente Prudente, Ribeirão Preto and Marília, each with its specificities that are both conditioned by and a product of people in their new consumer choices. As a partial result, we show the following: 1) consumerism is conditioned by the social class to which an individual belongs; 2) the urban mobility (regardless of means of  transport) shapes new centralities and alters the role of the main city center; 3) the city restructures itself due to the locations that differ depending on  the purchasing power of people. From the methodological  standpoint, the information was indirectly and directly obtained via field observation,  surveys, and interviews with different people groups. As a way of viewing the specific features of these cities, we have used cartographic represntation.

Keywords: Urban system. Urban space. Medium city. Urban centrality.