Por Uma Economia Política da Cidade. O Caso de São Paulo

by Milton Santos

É praticamente impossível separar as dimensões nacional e internacional do fato metropolitano, especialmente no Terceiro Mundo, observa Milton Santos a partir da análise da urbanização brasileira em geral e da metrópole paulistana em particular. Nos cinco ensaios que compõem este livro, o autor retoma e complementa discussões anteriormente levantadas no livro Metrópole Corporativa Fragmentada, ampliando uma reflexão teórico-metodológica mais antiga. O autor propõe temas e categorias de análise que conduzem o leitor pelos meandros da economia política da cidade, revelando os efeitos da divisão do trabalho sobre as condições locais do mercado, e evidenciando que, na atualidade, a vocação mundial das cidades as envolve num movimento cujo ritmo não é dado apenas por sua própria organização, mas também pelas exigências de uma competitividade cuja escala é planetária.

Paperback

Published January 1, 2012

About the author

Milton Santos was a Brazilian geographer.

Milton changed his world, by studying and teaching, onto an impressive path. He studied and he taught in Europe, America and Africa. He turned the painful exile that the military dictatorship imposed on him for thirteen years into benefits. Milton Santos wrote more than forty books in several languages; his work became a reference for all those who intend to understand in a critical way the current world. He was such an optimistic thinker, before anything else, that he got to distinguish the new from the innovative, concepts that he radically differentiated.

A serious and combative geographer, he didn't spare anyone of severe criticism -- politicians, intellectuals, department friends, and even the more faithful students. Gray hair appeared in his last years, but the professor would always appear in long-sleeve shirts and red tie, dressed with the same seriousness with which he worked with knowledge.

Some of his books include "Por Uma Geografia Nova" (1978) and "A Natureza do Espaço" (1996). His work "O Espaço Dividido" is considered a geography classic: in it Santos develops a theory on urban development in underdeveloped countries.

Milton Santos won the Vautrin Lud International Geography Prize, which is the highest award that can be gained in the field of geography. The award is modelled on the Nobel Prize, and it is considered and colloquially called the Nobel prize for geography.