The main objective in this essay is making a reflection upon the potentialities presented by the recent municipal master plans in Brazil compared to the traditional plans, because the City Statute (2001) brought a new meaning to these plans when designating them "participative master plans", in the orientation of formulation of plans on the perspective of an effective popular participation. In order to reach this goal, the concrete experience of two study objects will be developed: the Participative Master Plan and the Participative Budget. The city of Londrina/Paraná will be taken to check the application of the assumptions of popular participation on the production of the municipal master plan, and the city of Porto Alegre/Rio Grande do Sul, as an example of the participative budget application.
Urban Planning; Municipal Master Plan; Popular Participation