In order to achieve a more democratic and ‘humanised’ city, the first City Council sought to implement a new way of planning urban space that benefited people and mitigated the inequalities generated by capitalist development. At the end of 1979, Barcelona had over 1.7 million inhabitants, so the needs of the city’s populace had changed with regard to 1950, when the 12 districts of that time had been created.

The City Council favoured new districts that were based on social relations and decentralising municipal power, while equipping them with sufficient political, economic, technical and administrative powers. This issue highlighted the different approaches of political and social stakeholders.

The residents’ movement, the most important social stakeholder at the time, was able to take the initiative and, in 1980, submitted a proposal for a map that demarcated the city’s main neighbourhoods. The process of drawing up the new municipal map continued throughout the first council term, with different suggestions from the socialists and communists on the one hand, and from CiU on the other. The new map, with 10 districts, which is still in force, was finally approved at the Full City Council meeting held on 18 January 1984.