After the process of redemocratization in Brazil and the promulgation of the Constitution of 1988, several institutions and instruments of state management and planning implemented in their organizational structure ways of popular participation. In the management of cities, this tendency was very expressive-especially after the elaboration of the "Estatuto das Cidades" (City Statute)and was often accompanied by measures of administrative decentralization. Considering this context, this research aims to discuss the limits and possibilities of popular participation in institutional urban management through the analysis of Municipal Participative Councils (MPC) of São Paulo Regional Prefectures. MPC are instances that propose policies for São Paulo territories, in addition to supporting and supervising the decentralized administration of regional prefectures. To carry out this research was executed two main methodological steps. Firstly, some indicators of geographic conditions in São Paulo territories were analyzed in order to identify probable inequalities of possibilities of participation of the population in the MPC, due to worse or better living conditions in the districts and places of residence. Next, we sought to identify the practical results of the action of MPC in the planning and production measures of the city. The detailing of the operation of MPC were obtained from visits to ordinary meetings in some regional prefectures and through semi-structured reports and interviews with counselors present at these meetings. In general, it was observed that the low administrative and budgetary autonomy of regional municipalities has a negative impact on the possibilities of MPC intervention. Moreover, the regulatory standards of MPC, which restricts their activities to a merely consultative nature, associated with the frequent lack of support from the regional governments offices, demobilize the participants, many of whom are absent from meetings because they feel ignored and unable to participate effective. However, despite the challenges and limitations of the MPC, most active counselors emphasize the importance of the institution, and some attribute certain actions in the territories to the pressure of the councils. The limits of the council's performance expose contradictions inherent in a society in which the directions of the production of the geography of cities are restricted to certain privileged political and economic circles. The solution to the social demand for greater political participation ends up being carried out only in the formal plane.