Curitiba (MRC), Paraná state, Brazil. In 1974, the Government established the Coordination of the Metropolitan
Region of Curitiba (Comec) in order to coordinate actions and plan the integrated development of the twenty nine cities that comprise the MRC. The MRC has 3,493,742 inhabitants, representing 33.45% of the total
population of Paraná state; the population density of the area is 153.06 inhabitants per km², composed mostly
by cities considered small in relation to the number of inhabitants. The “Central Place Theory” proposed by
Walter Christaller was adopted as the methodological approach. This research was carried out with data about
population, value added tax, and jobs in the MRC, divided into types of economic activity, aiming to identify the
largest contributors to regional growth. Indicators of regional analysis, such as locational quotient, economic
base, employment multiplier, and centrality index were estimated to complement this analysis. Results showed
that, in the 2000s, Curitiba was and still remains the central place of the MRC, with a centrality index much
higher compared with the other cities. Hierarchy of places related to the market areas was observed, deϔined
not only by the population quota, but also by the ability to multiply jobs. The municipality of Curitiba employs
71.8% of the workers in the MRC, presents a high centrality index, and signiϔicantly inϔluences its surrounding
municipalities. This centrality has not changed in recent years, but it has grown stronger.
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