An analysis of the transformation that occurred beginning in the 1980s and that had important consequences for the process of urbanization, in the urban systems and patterns of human settlement in Brazil, with special emphasis on the role played by the State and the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo in this process. Data from the Demographic Censuses of 1980 and 2000 were used for this purpose.
spatial distribution of the population; urbanization; internal migration; metropolitanization
