Master plans of small municipalities in Parana state: Cianorte, Rondon and São Tomé

The instruments of the Municipal Master Plan, by law or choice of management, are important planning mechanisms in use today. Thirteen years after federal law No. 10.257/2001 - City Statute and 8 years after state law No. 15.229/2006 were passed, virtually all municipalities in the state of Paraná have developed their Municipal Master Plans due to mandatory state requirement. This article aims to assess whether and how their implementation is assisting municipalities in the process of Urban Management. The municipalities of Cianorte, Rondon and São Tomé, in the mesoregion of northwestern Paraná state, are the focus of this work because of their peculiar urbanization process conducted by the “Companhia de Terras do Norte do Paraná”, later “Companhia Melhoramentos do Norte do Paraná”. The study identified that significant advances occurred in the application of the laws and instruments of the City Statute, and that the existence of the Master Plans have assisted in the management of the municipalities investigated. It was possible to identify that small municipalities, with populations smaller than 20,000 inhabitants, are also implementing their master plans, respecting their own limitations.