ABSTRACT
This article describes and reflects upon the most recent sociopolitical strategic proposals set to the political and governmental dimensions of the city of Lisbon. In this framework, a specific process is detailed: directly requested by the president of the Municipality, in 2009 an independent commissariat developed a proposal for a strategic charter for the city. This proposal addresses a wide range of areas, including the political and institutional ones (through several governing principles with corresponding rationales and proposed lines of action). A critical analysis (all but closed in the present phase where the proposals are still under public discussion) is made of this specific process and some of its correspondent contents. The analysis is supported by theoretical reflections on urban politics, following the changes – and the growing paradoxes – both at the level of urban systems and in terms of the new governing dilemmas presently emerging in the European cities. The text seeks in this sense to contribute to a better analytical clarity for urban politics and urban administration. As state-of-the-art for the political developments in Lisbon, reflections are made upon the networks of administration, governance and sociocultural capital in the city. The final part of the article reflects on the present stalemate in the charter process, thus deriving some overall reflections with reference to contemporary urban politics.
