Migração e mobilidade pendular metropolitana: reflexões com base no caso de Belo Horizonte

Abstract

Connected to the urbanization process and the expansion of the urban fabric of big cities, there is the diffusion of massive currents of migration towards the municipalities of the metropolitan outskirts, composed, to a large extent, of population groups expelled from the central areas. Nonetheless, beyond a supposed belief in a deconcentrating process, it is assumed that this contingent will keep a strong interaction with the urban core, evidenced by regular commuting for work, study, or work and study. In this sense, this paper aimed to evaluate the degree of commuting to Belo Horizonte regarding the emigration from the center to the periphery of that metropolis. Moreover, an analysis of possible differences in patterns and levels of education and income concerning the distribution of migrant groups who regularly commute to work or study in the capital in terms of occupational categories. The empirical results obtained allowed us to expose at least two general conclusions: 1st) apart from the reduction in metropolitan emigration observed in the last decade, the recurrence of high volumes of commuting suggests the maintenance or, in some cases, the expansion of work, study or work and study links, indicating the high degree of interaction of these migrants with the capital, especially with neighboring and closer municipalities; 2nd) the levels of education and income, as well as the distribution of these migrants by occupational categories, suggest a certain degree of selectivity, with a spatial pattern differentiated by slightly lower levels of income and education to the detriment of those who work, study, or work and study in the municipality of residence.