The Cadernos Metrópole emerged in the late 1990s as one of the main products of the Observatory of the Metropolises and its main objective is to disseminate the results of comparative analysis between the Brazilian metropolises.

The periodic includes texts of researchers and scholars of urban theme, which speaks to the debate on the effects of socio-spatial transformations in conditioning the political-institutional system of cities and the challenges facing the adoption of business models based on urban governance.