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Este artículo analiza las transformaciones en los modos de gobernanza a raíz de la implementación de nuevos mecanismos de participación introducidos por los “Ayuntamientos del Cambio” de cuatro ciudades españolas, Zaragoza, Valladolid, A Coruña y Pamplona durante el periodo 2015-2019. En un contexto de urbanismo de austeridad (Peck, 2012), y desde el Enfoque Estratégico Relacional (EER) (Jessop, 2017) que entiende el Estado como una relación social, la investigación analiza a partir de un marco operativo innovador de qué manera las políticas participativas introducidas por dichos ayuntamientos modifican la selectividad estratégica heredada. Es decir, si se establece una nueva red de políticas públicas (policy network) más inclusiva y participativa. Demostramos como la  apuesta municipalista supone una ruptura con la etapa neoliberal de austeridad generada entre 2003-2007 en España, la cual habría erosionado las prácticas y culturas participativas que afloraron en la década de los noventa y comienzos de los dos mil (Davies y Blanco, 2017).

In this article we compare Cardiff and San Sebastián‐Donostia (Donostia) qualitatively, arguing that local governments’ capacity to co‐opt non‐state actors provides a relevant approach to understanding changes in citizen participation under fiscal austerity. Our argument is based on the close interrelationships of co‐optation, legitimacy and procedural regulation. These concepts help us understand how citizen participation is maintained in periods of instability, as experienced by city governments during and in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. Local governments’ legitimacy is maintained in so far as it shows capacity to co‐opt through negotiation, capture, ‘technicalization’ of processes and minimization of conflict. These elements work in tandem with factors of urban austerity embedded into a longer‐term neoliberalizing discourse. Our findings show that both city governments maintained their legitimacy but that, in the process, Cardiff Council's co‐optive capacity weakened, in contrast to Donostia's.

A key-goal for governance is the translation of knowledge into planning. We recruited 125 representatives from society, technical-political and the scientific community in a participation process focused on the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve. We analysed their testimonials by using qualitative and quantitative methods, including Computer Assisted Qualitative Contents Analysis. We validated consensuses for future management, detailing criteria for a sustainable, collaborative, and anticipatory governance. The consensuses that stood out as most important have been the following: 1. Urdaibai should work towards human well-being and prosperity. 2. Synergies between institutions and society through participation strategies are necessary. 3. It is important to have a political leadership to guide governance. We can state that the participatory process carried out allowed participants to express shared horizons on future strategies. We present the methodology of this process as well as its results since we consider that both can be useful for managers of protected areas.

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