We find ourselves in a period of transition between the end of what we could call a ‘Fordist-developist-urban planning' model, which has marked the life of large Spanish cities in the last 30 years, and an emerging scenario that has yet to be defined. A scenario in which relationships between public power, economic dynamics and social interactions suffer convulsions, with new dilemmas and conflicts related to the tension between difficult continuities and barely consolidated emerging alternatives. We think it is especially important to place the tension between old and new elements, continuities and discontinuities, within the urban framework. We understand that cities concentrate and intensify the dilemmas and challenges posed by this complex transition or interregnum (Bauman), of which neither do we know the possible outcome. Nevertheless, what is becoming clear to us is the exhaustion of the formulas used to structure and model urban policies in Spain and Catalonia during the second half of the 20th century.