This paper explores the urban problems that took place in Temuco (Chile) between 1955 and 1970 and how the institutions tried to solve them. To reconstruct the history of the local urban development primary sources, press archives, regional management records and minutes written by the municipal councils were used. The results indicate that, at that time, the city experienced a strong population growth derived from rural-urban migration generated by the ISI model, which led to a number of drawbacks such as paving, traffic congestion, and lack of basic services and housing. We conclude that centralized institutional efforts offered slow solutions that did not fit completely the local conditions and intensified the effects of the problems as well as helped to destabilize the balance between the spheres of sustainability.