This article is a contribution to comparative research between specific urban markets trajectories in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and it aims to juxtapose southern European food market experiences, particularly the Barcelona case, with west European ones. Like other big cities in southern and central Europe, Barcelona consolidated a sturdy polycentric system of district markets between 1876 and 1936, just when such markets were beginning to decline in ‘first comers’ cities of Britain and France. In the inter-war period, the market halls of southern European cities played a prominent role in the everyday food trade and as functional and socializing centres in neighbourhoods. They were poles of dense residential and kinship relations for stall vendors, especially women vendors, and foci of a large part of the food retailing business in many neighbourhoods. Barcelona's particular historical circumstances made the public covered market system a fundamental element of neighbourhood commerce and a long-term urban asset.

The pandemic has accelerated the search for innovative product/process/service solutions in city markets as well as the search for “open innovation challenges” more in line with current needs. The aim of the research is to understand the adaptation mechanisms of the local food system and, in particular, of the public space of the market system. The article analyses the change produced by the COVID-19 pandemic in the municipal markets of Sant Feliu de Guixols, Costa Brava, Spain. The data were collected through a semi-structured questionnaire administered to food sellers and contextually to a group of consumers. Factor analysis and the AGIL model were applied to the data collected and were confirmed with cluster analysis. The analysis highlights that the resilience of sellers is no longer sufficient and in many cases, they have equipped themselves with innovative solutions to meet the new customer demands arising from the pandemic (food delivery, e-commerce, take-away food, digital media, etc.). The document concludes with a discussion of food markets and innovations introduced in this period. Further studies can focus on the relationships between food practices and the transformation of urban spaces so that the food market can support new social practices that promote the food transition. The change would represent a switch which would provide traditionally less powerful actors, such as producers, the opportunity to reformulate the food supply chain in a way more linked to the territory. It would also create a resilient dimension for managing other possible food crises and present a challenge to achieving the ultimate goals of the businesses.

The more economically advanced countries of post‐World War II Europe experienced a progressive erosion of the public market system as a result of the adoption of more modern commercial formulas. In Spain, however, the public market system not only continued but expanded significantly. Barcelona was an outstanding example of this. The city had built an important public system of markets by the end of the nineteenth century. Later on, in the Francoist era, after a second construction wave of markets, there were even plans to use the markets as an urban planning tool. This essay examines the process in which the city had to choose between public and private initiatives and makes an assessment of the impact of the public market system on the city.