The urban area and natural areas of the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo: from physiographic subdivisions to geographic categories

The goal of this research was to investigate the relationship between the urbanization and the sedimentary and crystalline lands in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo (MRSP). In order to achieve this, two types of areas were identified: an area with urban character, and areas with natural character. The first is the one which contains all or most of a specific spatial shape, the metropolitan area, occurring in the majority of the sedimentary and associated crystalline lands (with widespread planning). The latter are characterized by the predominance of the greenbelt, which surrounds the metropolitan area, occurring on the crystalline lands not associated to the sedimentary ones. The greenbelt areas neither have widespread planning, nor contain sedimentary lands that could facilitate their urbanization. Another goal was to demonstrate that such organization is reproduced through actions of spatial character, which are here understood as the establishment and proposition of spatial units over time. Once such organization was identified and demonstrated, it was used as a base to propose the division of the MRSP in sectors with different priorities for the greenbelt conservation. In order to do so, the Regional Method of Richard Hartshorne (1978), that proposes a relationship between the Idiographic and Nomothetic Geography, was articulated. This approach involved the utilization of spatial samples located in the City of São Paulo, well representative of all the transition and differentiation between environments associated to the metropolitan area and to the greenbelt. In every sample, specific spatial integrations were performed, and from their comparison it was identified a parameter associated to the occurrence of the metropolitan area. This parameter was associated to the delimitation and configuration of the intended spatial organization. The elevation of 800 meters corresponded to this parameter, thus, the lowlands with regional significance were associated to the urban area, and the higher ones to the natural areas. It was demonstrated that actions of spatial nature, the east-west axis of urban expansion induced by the government since the 1970s, as well as the environmental protection units of several categories of conservation located in the MRSP, reproduce such spatial organization, and corroborate it. It was also possible to identify actions which agreed with this spatial organization and might be justified in the societys logic, and not only in the scientific or environmental logic. Such analysis allowed the identification of a complementary spatial organization that associates the urban expansion to climatic types and socially justifies the presence of a great part of the environmental protection units located in the urban area in MRSP. Based in such knowledge, it were suggested sectors ranging from the most vulnerable ones for the greenbelt conservation, which are constituted of environmental protection units situated in the area with urban character, to the less vulnerable ones, with environmental protection units situated in the areas with natural character. It was also suggested the most suitable sectors in which it is prognosticated the intense urban expansion, and those in which metropolitan parks can be established. Both of them fulfill the role of answering the needs of the metropolis and mitigate the occupation of sectors that must have priority conservation. It was concluded that in MRSP the spatial organization glimpsed is not valid only for the escarpment areas of Serra do Mar and Paranapiacaba, and that the reality can be approached from the point of view of the area of the spatial shapes. From this type of analysis its possible to suggest spatial sectors that aim to contribute to the territorial planning,under the environmental or social focus. (AU)