|
|
|
The territory is constituted by two perpendicular vectors _ infrastructural and logistic devices that articulate the great productive chains and integrate the macro-region with other industrial centers and the international market. The horizontal axle binds the area of mining, the steel complex and the cellulose industries to the ports of Espirito Santo. The vertical vector articulates the complexes to the ports of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. |
 |
The mining operations are dislocated to the south of Belo Horizonte, where large ore mines coexist with residential condominiums, in contrast with the friction of the old mining areas with the cities. More to the south, a vast area of logistic operations is drawn, in the intersection of several railroads. To the east, important regional urban systems are configured. |
 |
The Steel Valley is a region spatialy determined by the implantation of great steel plants, with their functional urban bases, and by extensive areas of eucalyptus plantation. Old areas of plantation had been abandoned, occurring disordered urban occupation. In the areas of reforestation for cellulose production, the companies don't create cities, promoting instead a informal urbanism based in small towns articulated by transport system. |
 |
The implantation of pellets and steel plants, projects of reforestation and cellulose industry would lead to a large expansion of the Vitória region. The harbour complex, formed by different specialized ports, extends for more than 100 km, articulated by railroads. The installation of diverse logistic enterprises transforms the metropolitan area into a platform for exportation. |
 |
This territorial device has global reach. The corporative networks _ through direct investment, shareholding control, intra-firms interchange or sale contracts _ transform the region into a platform of international integration of the Brazilian economy. The spatialization of Brazilian siderurgy shapes the territory and its global insertion. |
 |
Mapping local, urban scales, places important questions. How to inscribe located processes that only gain full meaning when understood in function of the larger territorial system where they are inserted? In Itabira, the attrition of the mines and reject deposits with the city and the rectification of the railroad branch are constituent of the old mining urban situations. |
 |
A large part of the areas disposable to urbanization in Timóteo belongs to Acesita, a steel plant, conditioning the city expansion. The city extends through the valleys. The abandonment of the eucalyptus plantation generated areas of environmental erosion and informal occupation. Also occupations in the bordering areas of the Rio Doce Park are intensive. |
|
|
|
