*4.1. The First Period (1979–1991)*

Within a context of social and political change, the municipalities of Lleida and Manresa agreed to revise their respective Master Plans (*Planes Generales*); the former was passed in 1979, and the latter in 1981. Both revisions went far beyond simply adopting the regulations laid out in Spain's Land Act of 1976; instead, they considered the reorganisation of urban planning and of the regulatory norms contained in the previous Master Plans. Both new plans also perfectly reflected a reorientation in planning that had been promoted in Catalonia since the final years of the transition to democracy by professionals trained at the *Escola Tècnica Superior d'Arquitectura de Barcelona* (ETSAB; *Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya*). Particular attention was given to urban form, the morphology of tissues, urban structure, and the capacity to recompose urban space through interventions in public space. These were just a few of the hallmarks of the ETSAB, and they were perfectly reflected in both documents.

In these Master Plans (Table 2), the first steps were taken to reduce the excessive potential for growth of earlier plans. They were also used to correct the destructuring effects of previous inappropriate land development (whether due to their location, characteristics, or insufficient initial planning). In the case of Manresa, the new plan envisaged a drastic reduction in densities; with a similar quantity of land, the previous plan had foreseen housing for up to 260,000 inhabitants. In Lleida, the Plan of 1979 contemplated a maximum population of 150,000 for the year 1999. This was very similar to that outlined in the Plan of 1957, which had foreseen a total population of 137,369. In both cases, densities were reduced with respect to the provisions of many of the previous *Planes Parciales*, and fewer sectors were projected than in previous planning processes. It was also planned to increase the provision of amenities and open spaces.


**Table 2.** Potential for growth, housing, and land classification in the different Master Plans for Lleida and Manresa [40].

a—Potential housing on unconsolidated urban land and delimited/sectorialised and non-delimited/non-sectorialised urban land. b—10,295 housing units on unconsolidated urban land and 15,909 on undelimited land earmarked for urban development.

> In the case of Lleida (Figure 3), most of the 1340 ha of land classified as *Suelo Urbanizable No Delimitado* (non-delimitated land destined for urban development) in the 1979 Master Plan came from a project inherited from the Francoist period. This project had foreseen the development of an area to the west of the city, but separated from its main urban nucleus, through the construction of a major development to house 20,000 people with more than 5000 housing units; it was almost a new city and was to be called Ilerda 2000. However, the only buildings finally constructed in that area were a number of public amenities. The subsequent 1999 Master Plan finally changed the status of this land.

**Figure 3.** *Plan General Municipal de Lleida* of 1979 (**left**), reprinted with permission from ref. [41] and *Plan General Municipal de Manresa* of 1981 (**right**), reprinted with permission from ref. [42].

In the case of Manresa, the proposals set out in the Master Plan of 1981—especially those relating to land classification—also took into account the dynamics and development of urban land in the municipalities of its urban area. As a result of the crisis within the sector, some delimited land that had initially been earmarked for urban development became non-delimited, or even land not destined for urban development. Most of this this land was for industrial uses. As a result, the densities contemplated in the *Planes Parciales* (Plans for Urban Development) for residential uses fell considerably. It should be noted that the previous plans had foreseen a similar quantity of land being occupied by up to 260,000 inhabitants.

Both city planning processes followed the same general trends:(1) They changed from plans with rather abstract zoning to plans with a more committed physical form; (2) they revised and reduced the oversized previsions for growth inherited from the previous period; (3) they focused more on reforming and improving the city that had already been consolidated than on growth, and they established a good number of Special Plans for the improvement of urban spaces and in order to provide better urban facilities; and, finally, (4) they were much more precise in the way that the systems for their development were defined and in their explanations of how they should be carried out.

In Lleida, for example, the development of the 1979 Master Plan had implied the approval of six *Planes Parciales* for urban development: four with residential uses (Joc de la Bola, Balàfia Nord, sector F of La Bordeta, and the University Campus area) and three with industrial uses (Camí dels Frares and Creu del Batlle), which affected a total area of almost 200 ha. There were then a further twenty-six *Planes Especiales* for improvement and urban reform, as well as a provision for another thirty-four more detailed action units. At the same time, the development of the 1981 Master Plan for Manresa implied the approval of four *Planes Parciales* for Les Bases, La Parada, Concòrdia, and Ametllers, as well as twenty-three *Planes Especiales*. These were drawn up and approved to improve and reform the existing urban land.

In both cases, it is important to highlight the approval of *Planes Especiales* for the improvement and dynamisation of their respective Historic Centres: the *Pla Especial del Centre de Lleida* of 1986 [43] and the *Pla Especial de Millora Urbana del Centre Urbà de Manresa* of 1985. Both city plans sought to combat processes of urban degradation, to recover the functional centrality of these historic centres, and to give value to/protect urban heritage.

We also found *Planes Especiales* for organising and developing more or less centrally located brownfield sites and derelict land, which had previously been excluded from the market for different reasons, such as topography, speculative reasons, former industrial land (e.g., Els Panyos and La Florinda in the case of Manresa), spaces previously occupied by large-scale railway infrastructure (the *Pla Especial del Recorrido* of 1984 in Lleida, which covered 9.96 ha), and the reconversion of former military installations, in Manresa. On the one hand, the planning of these sites made it possible to overcome internal barriers and to integrate previously derelict urban spaces; on the other, it presented a unique opportunity to improve the provision of amenities and open spaces within these cities. A good number of these interventions were carried out through public acquisitions of land by local administrations.
