Este artigo regressa a uma teorização aprofundada sobre o conceito de participação, com o objetivo de refletir sobre a natureza da participação e demonstrar alguns dos problemas inerentes às publicações que distinguem entre formas de participação claras e escuras. O ponto de partida do artigo é uma discussão sobre três limites inscritos no conceito de participação. O primeiro limite leva-nos a uma discussão antiga sobre a natureza da participação, o foco no poder e o que é incluído e excluído nestas definições. O segundo limite do conceito de participação tem como tema uma série de distinções, nomeadamente aquelas entre participação, a sua condição de possibilidade (acesso e interação) e os seus resultados. O terceiro limite que (potencialmente) estrutura a participação é da imposição da cultura democrática. Em resposta a estes debates, o artigo apresenta uma abordagem mais positiva, focada no que foi ignorado por muito tempo, a saber, as razões pelas quais a participação é importante. Aqui, o artigo fornece uma reflexão estrutural sobre as contribuições para este número da revista e constrói um modelo teórico que consiste em associar estas três lógicas, a saber, uma lógica social, política e fantasmagórica, permitindo entender melhor as razões pelas quais a participação é importante.

The Z are the first digital native people gaining access to university. It is a generation that registers high rates of social media consumption, but their digital competence is not as outstanding as one might expect due to the training’ deficiency they have acquired in previous educational levels caused, among other reasons, by the primary and secondary teachers’ low digital competence. The current research aims to identify the demand for using social networks and messaging apps 2.0 in university teaching. A quantitative methodology was employed in order to know the technological prospects of the university Z in the Euroregion Galicia-North of Portugal, in the context of an Erasmus mobility. The results confirm the necessity to continue using social media, but only those within the students’ technological comfort zone; thus, it is necessary to combine transmedia storytelling with the insertion of technological proposals in environments initially not conceived for learning. It is concluded that the Z are starting to claim the use of state-of-the-art resources such as self-destructive content, which requires an immediate improvement in the university educators’ digital competence by means of continuing training programmes, since only the pioneer educators with a C2 level can detect and pay attention to this type of demands.

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A critical reflection on the purposes, role and performance of city rankings through an holistic communicational approach is at the core of this article. Grounded on a conceptual framework that highlights the contemporary idea of the city-beyond the smart city and more as a co-intelligent, collaborative and co-creative entity, and on the performance outputs of city rankings as territorial and strategic communication tools that actually represent the state of cities, we address the citizens' presence or contribute-as main city stakeholders-to city rankings. In order to make research tangible with a practical component, an exploratory comparative content analysis of three recognized city rankings: the CBI -City Brands Index 2017, the GCR -2018 Global Cities Report, and the Global Liveability Index 2018-was carried out.Conclusive notes argue that in order to effectively represent cities, as they are lived, thought and built by their citizens in their everyday, city rankings must rely in more real-time, updated, people's perception centred data, and embed more citizen participation and insights. Moreover, methodology transparency and accountability should be promoted in order to add trust value to city rankings.

Set in the field of territorial communication, the aim of this chapter is to summon the various contributions of strategic communication to placemaking and promotion, approaching them both through a mind frame path, as a multi-layered concept, and through an operational approach, as a pragmatic tool. Going through a number of examples we will reflect on several experiences to illustrate the potential of strategic communication to add value to places in different sets and scales, from building a place almost from scratch to nation branding strategies, from positioning and re-positioning objectives to building up notoriety or developing communities’ sense of belonging to a territory. We also set an evolutionary frame of the territorial communication in the light of its strategic dimension, drawing on key concepts and trends, influences and achievements. The performative value of strategic communication as a constructive tool of territorial development is discussed in addition to the communicational added value of territorial brands, namely by pointing emerging issues such as storytelling or participatory place communication. Furthermore, we summon ethical and pragmatic challenges to the debate as inspiration for future research.