SOCIAL DIVISION OF SPACE AND SOCIO-SPATIAL FRAGMENTATION

Abstract This paper addresses the production of urban space in Mossoró, in Rio Grande do Norte State, through an analysis that articulates the social division of space and socio-spatial fragmentation. The hypothesis is that, in the context of contemporary urbanization, the fragmentary urban logic plays a significant role in structuring and restructuring urban spaces. The center-periphery contradiction is redefined, associated with the production of new spaces for consumption and the profusion of popular housing forms and closed residential spaces. For this, the mapping and cross-referencing data from these same spaces, the forms of habitation and, consequently, interviews with inhabitants, were fundamental for the analysis So, this article highlights the study of socio-spatial fragmentation as an expressive possibility to understand contemporary Brazilian urbanization. It concludes on spatial practices and the appropriation of space as a fundamental element to understand the fragmentation process in Brazilian medium-sized cities.