The process of urban transformation and recovery of central areas was one of the priorities of the Chilean governments in the 1960s and 1970s. In this context, special attention was given to the housing complexes that proposed alternative explorations in the urban-architectural field supported in the principles of the modern movement, in the frame of the search for a new model and urban paradigm. However, there were oppositions of a political and social nature that prevented reaching maturity in the different urban interventions carried out in this period. For this purpose, the case of the San Borja Remodeling in Santiago, Chile is analyzed, a project that, in its first stage, was considered a benchmark in the urban and social sphere and that, through its later stages, evidences interruptions in its development that provoked questions about their original conceptions. Beyond considering a project with relevant conditions, it has not managed to reach the necessary culmination and consolidation to face the new challenges demanded by the city and contemporary society.