n the last two decades, across the world, there has been a proliferation of innovations and participatory experiments, at diverse scales and with different institutional designs. In Portugal, public participation in municipal planning has been a small entrance for a more comprehensive local participatory governance. The cycles of production and revision of statutory plans, to which participation is mandatory, are too long and there are no institutional solutions for keeping the citizens engaged between the sparse participatory events assisting plans approval. Still, municipal plans deal with structural spatial and functional aspects that are crucial to the future liveability of cities. However, in parallel with plans, cities are subject to significant transformations through investments which are not antecipated in, or encompassed by, statutory plans. On the one hand, European city policy cycles are fuelling major urban transformations which, despite guidance, are in general poorly assisted by participatory processes. On the other hand, at the local and neighbourhood levels, smaller investments are taking place according to political conveniences. In both cases, the localized nature of projects would constitute opportunities for engaging citizens in decision-making and co-creation actions. Thus, there are these two dimensions of participatory efforts, which according to the literature might enhance the sustainability of urban changes, underpinned by social interactions that help to building up of a sense of place belonging and social capital. This work mobilizes relevant literature for addressing the tackled dimensions of local participation and the accumulated experience of participatory efforts. Namely, it explores the role of minipublics and other local governance arrangements, as well as co-creation and co-management methodologies which may inform institutional aspects that should be brought to in the establishment of a more robust local participatory framework for urban planning in Portugal, towards co-governance schemes in a continuous, sustainable, and more democratic way.

--

civic engagement,participatory governance,urban planning