Lines of Research

Line of Research – master’s and doctoral degrees

I – URBAN AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND PLANNING

This line of research focuses on four fields of interest:

1. Regional Development and Planning, which discusses economic and social development issues and their interfaces with regional development. Further research is stimulated on: (i) the regional impacts of oil and gas extraction and production and their relevance to changes in the regional structure and hierarchy of cities; (ii) intra-regional migration and commuting among residents of the municipalities in the region and neighboring regions; (iii) changes in the regional labor market; (iv) interests and conflicts involved in disputes over resources and local/regional development projects; (v) territorial planning at the micro and meso-regional scales.
2. City Management, or urban administration, in which research on urban management practices related to local administration, control of urban activities and land use, and management of public services and infrastructure takes place. This field encompasses questions concerning city administration in its different forms, from traditional public administration to concessionaire and consortium administration, in other words, questions focused on innovative practices of local management; ways of collaboration between the public and private sectors; alternative sources of revenue and the use of royalties; urban planning and local space management instruments.
3. City Law in which urban conflicts of specific local issues are primarily addressed to understand their legal aspects and search for solutions to their conflicts with a view to regional development and the preservation of quality of life. From this perspective, subjects of specific economic interest were selected, such as port activity, oil exploration, waste and sanitation, agricultural activity and its connection with the city.
4. Public Policies in which research on local development is encompassed, including studies on policies and housing programs, public policies for the areas of health, education, and employment and income generation, and even issues regarding sustainable development. Studies focused on the formulation, monitoring, and evaluation of public policies in different sectors are considered as well.

II) PUBLIC POLICY TOOLS

The goal of this line of research is to apply methods and techniques to solve regional and city problems. Of all the tools to be implemented in public policies and planning, the ones related to statistics (descriptive and inferential), to multicriteria decision making, and to computer simulation are some of the ones to be mentioned. The scope of this line encompasses the diagnosis of local and regional problems, the evaluation and simulation of the impacts of alternative solutions to these problems, and the creation of information systems for planning and management. Tests and studies intended to improve the competitiveness of the companies in the region in the national and international scenario may also be performed, keeping in mind the social and sustainability benefits, which must be prioritized.