This paper proposes to discuss the relevance of research in urban and regional studies, urban planning and urbanism in the Amazon, and the potential contribution of graduate research to updating development strategies designed for this region. The article is structured around the contrast of data from the S & T policies formatted for the Amazon region, and the guidelines that led to the creation, in 1973, of the Center for Advanced Studies about the Amazon. This literature review and data analysis highlights the expansion of graduate study at UFPA in areas that could have the discussion of cities and urbanization as the focus of interest. It appears that instead of including local cities in a possible development agenda for the Amazon region, the disciplinary character of the guidelines imposed upon the region may be consolidating a tradition of treating urban issues in a segmented fashion, rather than promoting a vision which is necessarily historical and interdisciplinary in nature.