Open AccessThis work demonstrates the importance of the photographic registers for the documentation of the urban transformations and preservation of the memory. The object of study is the city of Londrina (Paraná State) and the time periods cover its downtown before and after the Municipal Law nº 10.966, sanctioned by the mayor of the city on August 2, 2010. The law became known as “Cidade Limpa” (Clean City) and regulates the use of outdoor advertising and shopfronts, factories, stores and service firms, including the medical field. Shopkeepers and merchants had 180 days to adapt their advertisings to the new law, which promised to transform the urban landscape and give back to the citizens the vision of the historical architecture fronts of the city. The work uses theoretical references of photography and memory; it also registers moments from Londrina’s downtown in the period of changes and brings interviews with characters who lived the changes because of their presence in locations that passed through transformations.