Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística

About the publication - A first approximation - 2017

With the release of “Classification and characterization of rural and urban spaces in Brazil: a first approximation”, the IBGE presents a proposal for classification, by municipality, of rural and urban spaces, identified according to criteria that are valid for the entire National Territory, bringing into the debate one of the most adequate topics considering the geographic identity of our institution.

Considering the current scenario of intense urbanization observed in the Country, this debate is presented as an anchor for discussions about rural-urban issues with the purpose of improving the classification that will be made available in the 2020 Population Census. In order to reach that objective, this publication is structured upon three thematic chapters: the first one presents the conceptual path built by Geography at the IBGE concerning the delimitation of rural and urban dimensions and presents a contemporary discussion about the topic. The second chapter deals with the political and institutional context, at national and international levels, and provides a revision of the criteria used in other countries, and it also reveals the different approaches and statistical data used by several nations. Finally, the third chapter shows the development of the methodology and the references adopted in the elaboration of the current proposal of municipal typology. A list of the bibliographical references about the rural-urban scenario, which has been part of the IBGE journals since 1939, is available in the Annex.

The group of information released herein, besides improving the classification presented in the Population Census, is expected to increase geographic knowledge about the Brazilian territory reality, considering the movement of continuity/discontinuity constructed between rural and urban spaces. Furthermore, the great demand for classification in this segment from the academy, the public administration and the society evidences the relevance of this discussion in a continuous way, considering different approaches and scales.