City and regional center: forms and commercial uses in Juiz de Fora, Brazil

Abstract

This paper aims to present some forms and commercial uses in Juiz de Fora (Brazil). Methodologically, the studies of the city’s urban history is referred to in order to highlight the arcades as marks of a city strongly influenced by the industrial heritage and the shopping malls as expressions of a city that means to grow up and root. It is concluded that the expansion of the commerce to the outskirts of the city’s historical nucleus’ limits, besides showing the strength of the subcenters, shows the classic implantation of a shopping mall in areas which bear great urban equipment. In Juiz de Fora’s case, the city’s commercial sector growth in the past few years, with the implantation of many shopping malls, marks the adjustment that the old industrial city is making to fit in as a regional center which receives a floating population avid for expenditure.