In the context of the effects that the rapid urbanization processes in Latin America, academic and professional discussions about the urban space emerged as part of the urban agenda in the 1970 decade. This article analyses, for the Chilean case, the development of the main topics of discussion and how they were related to theory and practice of town planning, in the last phase of developmentalism that, during decades, marked the political and economic agenda of the region. Although several periodicals and journals concentrated in the urban problem circulated during the period, this article concentrates in the contents of EURE and CEPAL journals which, due to its scope of influence registered the way in which social and economic processes were understood in perspective of urban development.