Participation beyond the ladder: A critical framework for understanding spatial engagement in Portugal

Public participation is frequently framed as a cornerstone of democratic spatial planning. Yet, in practice, it often oscillates between symbolic inclusion and civic resistance. This article offers a critical reframing of participatory practices in Portugal by proposing a three-part typology: Participation as Legal Obligation, Civic Attitude, and Civic Conquest. Drawing on Arnstein’s Ladder of Citizen Participation as a heuristic point of departure, the study engages with contemporary critiques and presents an expanded framework grounded in empirical observation. Through the development of analytical sheets and a series of comparative case studies, the article maps how participatory processes emerge, are shaped, and contested across different institutional and civic contexts. It highlights the coexistence of formal compliance, strategic inclusion, and grassroots mobilization as simultaneous forces in the participatory landscape. The analysis reveals persistent tensions between regulatory formalism and democratic agency and calls for a shift toward more context-sensitive, power-aware, and co-productive approaches to participation. The article contributes to participatory planning theory by offering a situated and pluralistic typology, and to practice by equipping actors with diagnostic tools to improve participatory processes. It ultimately argues that participation must be reclaimed as a struggle for democratic deepening and spatial justice, rather than a procedural checkbox in planning governance.