From the federalism of regions to metropolitan regions:

federative reflections in the light of Brazilian urban policy

Abstract

This article discusses, in a dialogued way, two conceptions taken from the reality of the Brazilian State: federalism and urban policy. The idea of ​​the study is to address both themes in parallel and place them in the field of federative debate, giving special emphasis to some of the problems faced by Brazilian urban policy in order to illuminate the investigation. The aim of the essay is to raise reflections on the possible connections between the two concepts, investigating them, as well as providing a critical view of the problems related to the federative model adopted in the 1988 Constitution, especially in light of Brazilian urban policy. The investigation will take as a parameter the federative format designed in the 1988 Constitution, characterized by the excessive centralization of competences in the hands of the Union to the detriment of peripheral entities, and will seek to investigate inadequacies and incompatibilities between the theoretical design and the federative reality, which are reflected in many of the problems of urban order. The method of approach adopted will be the hypothetical-deductive method, which equates the rationalization of the deductive method with the experimentation of the inductive method, and the procedure used will be the historical-comparative one, as it investigates the institutes based on its origin in the past for the purpose of understanding its nature and function. The conclusions will be highlighted throughout the text and retrieved and organized at the end.