These two projects, of national scope, will be complemented with case studies about regional economic transformations, the understanding of which is fundamental for a better comprehension of the relations which are being established by the metropolises with one another and with their regional spaces. Above all, we intend to undertake several research tasks which may help with the evaluation of the effects of structural adjustment and of productive restructuring on the urban-metropolitan dimension.

a) A study of the tertiary activities in the Metropolitan Region of Porto Alegre (1985/2003, in selected years) which will try to disclose the role played by tertiary activities for the development of metropolitan economy, either as inductors or as elements induced by the activities considered productive (farming, cattle-raising and industry).
Heads of the research team: Dr José Antônio Fialho Alonso- FEE-RS and the Porto Alegre Nucleus.

Research team: FEE-RS research team.

Products: Research report and a paper to be published in the FEE journal.

b) Analysis of the role of industry in the process of the urban/metropolitan decentralization, with an emphasis on the car industry settled in the metropolitan conglomerate in Curitiba and its repercussions on migration (expatriates), differentiated insertion of municipalities in the dynamics and other space expressions of the process in hand.
Head of the research team: Prof. Olga Lucia Castreghni de Freitas Firkowski - UFPR and Curitiba Nucleus.

Research team: Researchers of the Laboratory of Regional and Human Geography and support by IPARDES.

Products: research report and a paper to be published in the IPARDES journal.

c) Analysis of the transformation process in the metropolitan economy of Goiânia, from the standpoint of the economy of the State of Goiás and of the Center-West economy, as regards the most significant productive activities. The project will look more deeply into the elements regarding work/jobs, with special emphasis on informal jobs, population mobility and spatial alterations resulting from the process of interaction with these variables. The influence of the region compared with others in the country will also be investigated. Simultaneously, we shall study the social, political and environmental effects of the disorderly occupation of the cerrado and the expansion of the agribusiness in the Center-West region: they alter work relationships in the country, as they replace the subsistence production model by a model which fundamentally contemplates the production of export goods, disrupts the budding agricultural production modeled on family agriculture and pushes a significant part of migrants towards small, medium and large towns.

Head of the research team: Prof. Maria do Amparo Albuquerque Aguiar - UFGO and Goiânia Nucleus.

Research team: researchers, M.A. and Ph. D. students of UCG, Federal University of Goiânia (UFG), State Goiânia University ( UEG ), ENCE and Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC).

Products: research report, 3 M.A. dissertations and a paper to be published.

d) Analyses of economic and territorial dynamics of the Amazon region and its impact on the structure of the Metropolitan Region of Belém. A double perspective is intended : from the metropolis to the organization of the territory of middle-sized towns and a from the non-metropolitan towns regarding the process of metropolization. That is, we aim at the understanding of the aggregation process in the metropolis, and of dispersion in the smaller towns, which will shape the study of the metropolitan question in the Amazon.

Head of the research team: Prof. Ana Cláudia Cardoso, Ph D. ( UFPA ) and Edna Castro (UFPA).

e) Analysis of the particularities of the economy of services in the metropolitan economy of Recife, for the identification of strategies aiming at the reduction of inequalities on one hand, and, on the other, the conditions for the diffusion of innovations in the Metropolitan Region of Recife.

Head of the research team: Prof. Ana Cristina Fernandes - UFPE and Recife Nucleus.

Research team: Pernambuco Observatory.

f) Analysis of the decentralization of metropolitan productive economy in the 90´s and its repercussions on the work market and on the socio-occupational structure.

Heads of the research team: Prof. Lucia Bógus - Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP) and Prof. Suzana Pasternak - FAUUSP and Sao Paulo Nucleus.

Researcher: Prof. Antônio Cláudio Moreira - FAUUSP.