ABSTRACT
Introduction The present economic crisis, experienced during the first decade of the twentyfirst century, encompasses three different dimensions in Spain: an economic dimension linked to the explosion of the construction bubble, a social dimension represented by the loss of confidence in public institutions and in traditional political parties, and a third dimension that questions the territorial model of governance. Spanish cities have already initiated processes of reorientation, but those processes appear almost exclusively in terms of economic orientation towards post-industrial and post-real estate models, but do not show any significant change in spatial governance. Since the economic crisis has been reinforced by the governance framework, any institutional post-crisis scenario should consider not only the reorientation of the economy but should also rethink how the urban, regional, and national spaces are governed. Spanish cities and regions should tackle what Neil Brenner (1999, 2000, 2004, 2009a, 2009b, 2013) has defined as urban and regional rescaling, following examples of regions and countries that have already responded to this process in terms of institutional reforms (the UK, Germany, the United States). A new territorial vision of the role of cities, Metropolitan Areas and regions appears as a key issue, because, as already mentioned, the urban crisis in Spain is not only an economic crisis but also a crisis of territorial governance.
