Metropolitan restructuring and the emergence of centralities: New commuting flows and the spatial configuration of the Metropolitan Region of Porto Alegre

The article discusses the process of deconcentration of productive activities in the Metropolitan Region of Porto Alegre (Brazil) in order to investigate variables implicated in the emergence of new centralities and their interactions with commutation (home-work displacements). By adopting a multivariate analysis, conurbation processes and commutation census data were related to the morphological properties of the spatial configuration, described by the Spatial Syntax methodology. Through Spatial Syntax, which is the main methodology used, trends of movement potentials and probability of flows in the metropolitan network are identified. The following was verified: (i) intensity and direction of commutation flows; (ii) hierarchies of relative accessibility/integration of the system; (iii) centrality hierarchies in the network/routes with higher probability of flow. It is assumed that there is a relation between the deconcentration of economic activities, changes in regional accessibility patterns, the emergence of functional centralities, density and direction of metropolitan commuting flows.