Dialogues, tensions and expectations between urban civic movements and city administration: Lessons for urban politics evolution from two recent participatory processes in Portugal

This article presents a preliminary analysis on the evolutionary framework for new types of in-tersections, dialogues and conflicts between urban administration and civic movements in Por-tugal. The analysis is here based on two case studies developed around urban requalification processes in two central public spaces, in the cities of Lisbon – the Martim Moniz Square – and Aveiro – the Rossio Garden. In these cases, the conflicts and the interconnections between local authorities and social movements have been evolving in very interesting forms. Expressing not only relevant changes occurring on urban civic movements themselves, but also an inevitable although still quite limited and visibly thwarted political culture reconfiguration on urban gov-ernments and its administration.