A Rede Urbana Pan-Amazônica e a Copa do Mundo de 2014: os impactos nas cidades de Tabatinga (BR) e Leticia (COL)

Abstract

For the second time is history, Brazil was the stage of the most important soccer championship around the planet: FIFA World Cup. The 2014 edition took place in the Amazon region, which was directly involved in the whole process, having the Amazonas state capital city Manaus as one of the chosen city hosts. The demands of this present study rises from the reflections about this major sports event as well as its impacts on the Amazonas state. These reflections are the results of an extensive field work done in May 2013 in the so called “High Solimões River”, more specifically in an area known as the Amazon Triple Border. Located in the heart of the Amazon, this spot presents the territorial delineation among Brazil, Colombia and Peru, which shows unique characteristics due to the conurbation between the two main towns of Tabatinga (Brazilian side) and Letícia (Colombian side). Emerged from the discussion focused on the urban system the hypothesis speculated that the better structured cities which hold financial influence over the smaller ones would show steeper and more visible impacts than the small towns with less complex urban dynamics in the surrounding area of Manaus. Thus, the physical distance between the border cities of Tabatinga and Letícia and the capital city of Manaus, would not be a determining factor or cause any impairment to both cities to be affected by the major event. Holding financial, cultural and political importance, in addition to their airport terminal structure as well as their linkage to other urban areas, these two border cities could suffer a considerable impact. Therefore the main objective of this research was to analyze the impacts of the 2014 World Cup on the Pan-Amazonian urban system, highlighting the transportation network and the urban infrastructure of the cities of Tabatinga and Letícia. A diversity of facts justified this study. Firstly, it raises the discussion of what the Amazon represents, in terms of its natural-physical body as well as its ideological and political matter. Furthermore, the analysis of huge sports events claims its importance due to its multiple faces which may not show its whole scope, although it certainly contemplates a greater amount of realia of the geographical area where it occurs. Especially because of that, the present study states its greater relevance being the pioneer in crossing analyzing huge sports events and their imminent impact on cities considered to be medians. Finally, this study corroborates to the better understanding of the urban system of the Pan-Amazonian cities. Both Brazilian and Colombian bibliographic data and secondary information concerning the specifications of the study, together with the field work itself guided the development of this research. In conclusion, the present study consolidates the structural importance of the urban system of the Amazon region and shows why the regional geographical studies cannot prescind from this knowledge nor avoid acknowledging the international characteristics this region claims.