New commercial forms and expressions of urban centrality in Imperatriz – MA: an analysis of the installation and dynamism of shopping centers

Abstract

In this article it is discussed the key aspects of the new commercial forms and expressions of the urban centrality of Imperatriz. At first, some considerations about the urban phenomenon in Brazil, that poses diverse and complex, are made. This scenario was influenced by different determinations; some of them were the development of many economic activities, that promoted greater dynamism of the cities, as in the case of industrialization, that favored the expansion of this process in the Center-South of this country, the modernization of the countryside in the Central-West, influenced by advancement and the use of new techniques. The reflections of this phenomenon is visible in the Amazon reality, the region where it enters the city of Imperatriz, which is the object of this study. Because of that, we had the anxiety to understand the expressions of the urban centrality developed by this city by the installing and dynamism of the shopping malls. This research is supported by the adoption of the theoretical Marxist approach and on the use of the dialectical method for understanding the urban reality is built in a contradictory way. Those methodological constructions were based on the contributions provided by Trivinos (2011) and Gil (2008). As techniques for data collection the simple observation and the adoption of semi-structured interviews were used.