*2.1. The Revision of Previous Planning and the New City Model Associated with "Urbanismo Urbano" (1979–1991)*

The first of our periods extends from the time of the first democratic elections for local councils—in 1979—until 1992. The newly elected municipal councils faced the task of defining new municipal agendas within which urban planning was to play a central role. They began to revise their Master Plans in a task that went beyond simply adapting them to the precepts of the new Land Act of 1976. Local councils took advantage of this situation to change the focus of the model and the contents of their Master Plans, revising any building ordinances and norms that could be considered speculative or that had been based on previous over-dimensioned expectations for growth. The new documents gave priority to restructuring, reforming, and improving the existing cities through a type of urban planning that was described as *urbanismo urbano*—literally, "urban" urban planning [13]. In this way, general urban reform and transformation were imposed in an attempt to offset the disproportionate growth of the previous period.

In Catalonia, following the transfer of competences in 1978, the corresponding Department of the *Generalitat de Catalunya* focused its attention on revising the existing Master Plans and drafting new ones. As a result, during this period, a large number of Master Plan documents were passed, whose contents clearly differed from those of the 1960s and 1970s. New planning documents expressed a willingness to face up to the main urban problems that had been inherited from the previous period. They also offered a way to increase urban provisions and to put an end to the previous process of "*desarrollismo*" (excessive urban growth promoted during the final decades of dictatorship) [13].

The first step towards achieving this involved changing the status of land and reducing the amount of land classified as *Suelo Urbanizable* (land for urban development), much of which became either *Suelo Urbanizable no delimitado* (non-delimited land, which required a much longer bureaucratic process before it could be developed) or *Suelo no Urbanizable* (land not zoned for development). Secondly, not only was the quantity of land to be developed reduced, but also its densities and buildable areas. This downward shift in densities also applied to the *Planes Parciales*, which were used to develop the land classified in Master Plans as *Suelo Urbanizable* and were submitted for approval or had already been approved.

When it came to classifying new land for urban development, these proposals offered a new way to complete the urban structure and to integrate semi-consolidated urban areas. Furthermore, much of the zoning, which had often been very general and inappropriate for its location, was revised, as were the maximalist building ordinances. Finally, there was a general increase in the amount of land set aside for urban amenities and open and green spaces.

In the management and deployment of new (or revised) Master Plans, the most significant planning figure was the *Plan Especial*, whether for urban reform, improvement, or protection. Its special importance derived not only from the great number of documents drafted and approved in Catalonia, but also from the fact that it became one of the figures that best reflected the aim of the urban planning and policies undertaken during this period. Its main objectives were to make improvements to and to reform the existing city, and also to protect its historic centres and areas of natural interest. Even so, the characteristics and nature of these documents were set to change when what started as (often rather ambitious) social projects were later converted into more formal and architectonic projects [14].

Furthermore, with attention moving to the more or less consolidated city, insufficient attention was given to the protection of spaces of special (environmental, natural, or scenic) interest, to the protection of vulnerable spaces on *Suelo No Urbanizable* (land not zoned for development or rural land), and to supramunicipal coordination. All of that was needed at a time when processes of suburbanisation and peri-urbanisation were in full swing in the metropolitan areas, and they were also starting to emerge in the spaces surrounding medium-sized cities in the most dynamic territories [15,16].
