From Mitrópolis to Metropolitan Region: Investigating the Historical Origin of Metropolitan Status

Abstract

Since its origin, the term metropolis has served to identify distinct spaces, first those of the polis, then those present in modern colonial states, until it started to refer to a type of urban space, that of the metropolis itself. From the nineteenth century onward, as an urban space, the term metropolitan also gained a political sense of a model of governing itself through the institution of metropolitan regions. Although associated with various stigmas, such as difficulty to govern, the metropolitan condition came to enjoy a certain symbolic prestige, a sort of spatial status. Researchers in Brazil have pointed out that the search for metropolitan status has motivated the creation of metropolitan regions in spaces lacking the basic phenomenon that defines this status, namely metropolization. Thus the objective of this article is to investigate the historical origin of the meaning of metropolis and its changing status over time.