Passo Fundo shopping and the reflections for an average city in the northwest of Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

This article presents an overview of the impacts caused by the implementation of a new Shopping Center in Passo Fundo, a medium-sized city in Rio Grande do Sul. More precisely, it is the second stage of the study developed in the research group “Teoria e História da Habitação e da Cidade” (THAC - IMED), considering the progress of the construction of the aforementioned shopping center and, mainly, the heritage bias related to its construction, above all, the disregard of the building of historical value for the city in the area. In this way, it was aimed to point out the consequences of the construction of this enterprise for the neighborhood, the city and its cultural patrimony. Regarding methodological procedures, on-site visits were made in the construction site of Passo Fundo Shopping, where aspects related to the flow of people and vehicles were observed, as well as photographic records and applied questionnaires in order to highlight the role of the pre-existing historical building on the ground and whether the population is noticing the changes taking place in that locality. To base these actions, a bibliographical review were made about the process of urbanization and expansion of the city, as well as the collection of statistical data. In this way, it was expected to describe the relevance of commercial centers of this typology relative to the power of polarization, structuring and conformation of new urban centralities at the heart of medium-sized cities in the country, as well as to understand the process of formation and transformation of this new subcenter in Passo Fundo and the role of public power and real estate speculation in this context.