Estruturas e processos produtivos em economias regionais e locais: Atlas Geoeconômico Digital de Contagem-MG, aplicado ao ensino básico de Geografia

Abstract

Cultural and, especially, economic deterritorialization, intensified by the process of globalization and the dispersion of productive stages, exposes local vulnerabilities resulting from adaptations imposed by new productive models and structures. In order to promote visibility and strengthen local dynamics, this study proposes the mapping of productive activities at regional and, primarily, local scales as a didactic-pedagogical resource for Geography teaching in Basic Education, with potential for replication and improvement in other local contexts. The research aimed to map the economic structures and processes of the three main productive sectors, applying them to teaching practices within the municipal context of Contagem-MG, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Reflections are presented on the meaning of place as a space of production and knowledge construction, considering the local economy as a basis for identifying, locating, and creating maps connected to information on territorial productive processes. The methodological procedures were based on the consultation of secondary socio-economic and socio-spatial databases and on digital mapping techniques. The outcome of these approaches was the development of a digital georeferenced database on the economy of Contagem-MG, adapted for web environments, resulting in the production of a Local Economies Atlas using a WebGIS platform. The conceptual framework of the research is grounded in the principles of the Brazilian National Common Core Curriculum (BNCC) and the Curricular Guidelines of Contagem-MG, particularly regarding geographic reasoning, spatial thinking, and competencies and skills related to basic education. The study also draws on theoretical contributions concerning economic circuits (Santos, 2004), territorial configurations (Haesbaert, 2013), the potential of local economies (Dowbor, 2022), and the relevance of mapping in the formation of “a conscious reader of cartographic language” (Almeida; Passini, 2023, p. 21).