THE CITY AND CHALLENGES OF URBAN POLICY IN URBAN AGLOMERATES: THE EXPERIENCE OF RIO DE JANEIRO

Abstract

Since the twentieth century, the institutionalization of metropolitan regions in Brazil has been in progress. Sometimes under the concept of an authoritarian centralism of military governments, sometimes under the concept of strengthening of local governments designated by the 1988 Constitution. This is a complex process, and the formation of the main metropolitan regions of the Southeastern Region is still away of its ending. Even the Metropolis Statute, born in 2015, wasn’t able to resolve all conflicts related to the construction of urban policy in urban agglomerations. In Rio de Janeiro in particular, the construction of the metropolitan region involving the former federal capital demonstrates how the issue still challenges state and municipal governments. In this article, a brief historical retrospective of the construction of the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro was carried out, as well as the analysis of the legal impasses arising from its construction and a debate about the recent trajectory of the reformulation of the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro.