Urban geography is undoubtedly one of the most important subdisciplines of Brazilian geography: first, because it is a pioneer on the topic: a text on urban geography was found in a publication by an author from Bahia in 1913! second, because of the volume of production: in the surveys conducted by Mauricio Abreu in 1989, the author managed to count some 1000 titles; and third, because of the prominence of the authors who have been involved in the topic, from Josué de Castro in the 1940s, Milton Santos since the 1950s, Pedro Geiger in the 1960s, and Aldo Paviani, Maria Adélia de Souza, Mauricio Abreu and Roberto Lobato Correa in the 1980s. It is important to stress the continuity of the publications of Milton Santos abroad, which had an international impact. 1989 saw the start of the biennial National Symposia on Urban Geography (Simpurbs), which in addition to bringing together researchers from the entire country with an interest in the topic, gave rise to the publication of annals, journals, and books, which comprise a record of the main production over the course 30 years. At the same time, the Urban Studies Group was created, which began to publish the Cidades journal in 2004, as well as two books. With the annual meeting of the Urban Geography Commission of the IGU, held in Salvador in 2017, a process of expanding the participation in international events began. The production of this chapter will be supported by Mauricio Abreu’s 1989 article, my book Dois séculos de pensamento sobre a cidade (1999, 2012) and an examination of the most recent publications, both individual and collective, placing special emphasis on the collections resulting from the Simpurb events. The main present-day topics of the subdiscipline can be proposed by studying the Working Groups of the mentioned biennial events.
