Legal foundations of the institution of Metropolitan Regions in Brazil: questions and answers to political controversies on the matter

The article presents the synthesis of exploratory researchs on the legal foundations of the institution of metropolitan regions (MRs) in Brazil, with the objective of finding legal answers to questions arising from political conflicts. At first, a survey of controversies was carried out around the institution of MRs, in order to obtain a picture of practical problems on the matter. Next, in the search for answers to the identified questions, the legal status of MRs was reviewed and analyzed, as well as theses of scientific law and the jurisprudential sphere. The results found corroborate the hypothesis that, far from being mere abstractions without practical effects, the legal configurations of MRs help to understand the direction of these territorial instances in Brazil.