Download The city of Maringá - PGM Programa de Pós

The city of Maringá was founded on May 10th of 1947 by Lord Lovat with the
Paraná Plantations Limitada (Companhia de Melhoramentos do Norte do
Paraná). Currently, this city has completed 66 years of political emancipation and
its estimated number of population, according to IBGE, is of approx. 360-370
thousand inhabitants.
The urbanization of Maringá obeyed a project previously established by the Urban
Engineer Jorge de Macedo Vieira. Public spaces such as squares, streets and
avenues were demarcated heavily considering the topographical qualities of the
chosen areas, revealing a lucid concern with green area protection, and
preservation of native forests.
Additionally, the unceasing work of the Agronomical Engineers Luiz Teixera
Mendes and Anníbal Bianchini da Rocha (known as the Gardener of Maringá)
resulted in avenues and streets densely afforested by countless species, among
them flamboyant, sibipiruna, pau-ferro, tipuana, grevília, and, mainly, ipê-roxo.
Nowadays, Maringá propitiates excellent life quality to inhabitants. The
enchanting urban area, cosy and convidative, is well served of forest parks and
replete of these and many other tree species, whose flowers, during the different
seasons of the year, embellish the city and enchants the eyes of the spectators.
Maringá is in the Northwestern region of Paraná State, South region of
Brazil. Strategically located, this city is 267 miles away from the State Capitol,
Curitiba, and 403.8 miles away from São Paulo city.
The main economical source of this city has its foundation on agriculture,
livestock, commercial activities, agro-industrial sectors, textiles and clothing,
education and health. In addition, it is center and reference to a region of more
than a million inhabitants, and it hosts one of the most important Brazilian
Agricultural Cooperative, Cocamar.
The altitude location of Maringá comprehends between 500 and 600 masl, the
latitude is of 23º 25' S and the longitude of 51º 57' W. Curiously, Maringá is cut by
the tropic of Capricorn. Therefore, the predominant weather in the region of
Maringá is sub-tropical. The coldest season presents average temperature inferior
to 18ºC/64.4ºF and the annual average temperature is superior to 20ºC/68 ºF,
with rainy summers and dry winters.
Currently, Maringá is the third biggest city of Paraná and occupies the 5th place in
terms of total population on the rank of Brazilian South Region cities. Thus, with
high level of urbanization, Maringá counts with excellent water supply, energy,
sewer and phone services. The city also relies on a large bus station and an airport
designed for airbus Airbus A 380, Boeing 767-300, Embraer 170/195, ATR 72-500
and ATR 72-600, with daily flights to São Paulo and Curitiba, integrating the city to
other regions of the country and the world.
The educational sector of Maringá, from kindergarten to University, finds itself
completely above Brazilian standards. The several universities of the city offer
Undergraduate courses on the most distinct areas (arts, agriculture, science,
engineering, humanities, health, social science, textile, among others), followed
by high quality Graduate programs on level of Master’s and Doctorate degrees.
There are eight different academic institutions in Maringá, which aggregate a
student population of approximately 15,000 students.
One of Paraná State most important academic institution is the Universidade
Estadual de Maringá (UEM). On the national rank of Best High Education State
Institutions (Instituições de Ensino Superior Estaduais, publics), UEM occupies the
5th position and it has been granted the title of “The Best University of Paraná
State” in the years of 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012. The admitted students count
with a wide variety of courses in diversified levels of academic career: 69
undergrad courses, 40 graduation, and 93 specializations.
Maringá also has a large number of hotels, restaurants, banks and movie theaters.
Basic services such as Federal Justice, Federal Police Delegacy (sector responsible
for passport issuing) are also available and are known to be of great efficiency.
In relation to economy, Maringá outstands the standard living of the majority of
Brazilian cities with a GDP per capita of R$18,914.00, fact which augments the
proximity of Maringá standard living in relation to well developed countries life
quality standards.
Maringá possess a total GDP of R$7.13 billions and a high Human Development
Idex (0.841), which is very similar to the indexes of developed countries. The city
also does not possess substandard housing nor slums, since the 70s, once the city
counts with popular house programs offered to low income families.
A continuous work of conscientization (term created by Paulo Freire) of nature
preservation resulted in 25.47 m² of green area per inhabitant, beyond that, the
city also maintains 17 parks of native forest summing up to a total area of 217.8
ha.
The several ethnic groups that form maringaense society create a multi-cultural
medium. Maringá population is formed by descendents of Africans, Germans,
Arabs, Hispanics, Portuguese, Italians, Japanese, and Latin Americans. Such fact
has contributed to the diverse economical activity of the city associated with the
enterprising spirit of these inhabitants, which each year brings new investment
projects to Maringá and metropolitan region.