This paper is guided by the thesis that urban policies intended to reform urban life must be focused on the urban economy and its development possibilities. Without this consideration, neither more efficient urban management nor the redistribution of services nor even the institutionalization of a participatory democracy can get under way. Furthermore, focusing our analysis on the urban economy would be more in keeping with the priorities manifested by the popular sectors themselves, which generally show greater interest in achieving a stable income than in better access to "urban services". Within this outlook, the question to be dealt with in the rest of this paper will be: What future does the globalization process hold for urban economies and what alternatives might be contemplated within this context?