MARITIME VILEGIATURE AS VECTOR OF BRAZILIAN URBANIZATION

Abstract

The logic of the urbanization of coastal areas can be associated with maritime vacationing, whose growth rates in the last decade have been intense and have become fundamental in implementing the leisure practices of the populations of large and medium-sized conurbations. To understand this dynamic, we analyze the expansion of this practice in the coastal area of Tibau, a small city that is part of the area of influence of Mossoró, the second most important and populous city of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. Understanding Mossoró’s influence on the expansion of maritime vacationing in Tibau shows how the coastal space is reached by the city’s urban fabric and, above all, how the non-metropolitan cities redefine a logic that, at first, was controlled by the metropolises. In this sense, we treat the growing demand for recreational areas, particularly coastal ones, as responsible for redefining urbanization and the consequent establishment of a more complex urban network.