The article discusses some results of a research project on the dinamics of public healthcare councils in peripheral neighborhoods of the city of São Paulo. Based on the analysis of practices of social mobilization in the considered areas and the performance of the local councils, it examines the relations between the design of theses councils, the history of mobilization in each of the areas, and seeks to situate these councils in the context of the international debate on participative governance and the deepening of democracy.
Healthcare councils; social mobilization; participative governance; democracy
