The Rio and the towns: an exploratory analysis of dependencies and scopes of communities Arapiuns (Pará, Brazil) and the formation of urban Amazon

Abstract

Riverine communities are here considered as socio-spatial units that structure urban phenomenon at the local scale. This paper presents an analysis of the field data obtained for the communities along the Arapiuns, Maró and Aruã rivers, in Southwestern Pará. Semistructured questionnaires were applied in 49 communities providing 32 variables and were used to compose five indicators which describe conditions of infrastructure, health and education, presence of the state, land use and community organization. Statistical techniques of simple regression and cluster analysis were applied to investigate the dependence of the communities’ conditions to urban centers, and the existence of similar situations to discriminate community groups. The river distance from Santarem did not explain the variability in the community indicators, however it showed to be related to land use and the presence of the state indicators. The organization of communities explained in part the indicators of health,education and infrastructure. From cluster analysis, three groups of communities were identified, highlighting the variability of their conditions. The indicators of health and education and community organization were key attributes to differentiate these groups. This initial characterization of Arapiuns communities investigated the spatial distribution of the local living conditions and the possibility of identifying communities groups with similar conditions. This analysis contributes to understand the structure and organization of the Amazon territory, providing valuable information for local public policies.