Referring to sustainable cities seems to be conceivable in a model or paradigm which recognizes the importance of including in our practices a continuous reflection of the different impacts in life conditions of all the inhabitants of our territory. If urban planner s aim is projecting spaces that transform positively how people experience the question is how it could be possible to comprehend inhabitants perception and how this could affect their participation as active citizens. In the actual world in which neoliberalism ethic of an intense individualism, which wants everything for it and can transform in a socialization model of human personality (Harvey, 2014, p.47) ideals of urban identity, citizenship and belonging turn into a more difficult way to feed into. This work inscribes under the debate about social participation development and presents this topic as an inherent condition for sustainability cities. In Brazil, since the guidelines which express social function of urban propriety in the urban plan of 1988, the approval of the Estatuto da cidade in 2001 and the inscription in the law of several participation instrument mechanisms, the space has been open for the local population to participate in the urban development at different scales. The general objective of this work is to explore mental maps as an opportunity to inhabitants express themselves in order to understand the different perceptions in a city and the connection with the geographical environment as a way of comprehending it s linking with urban participation. Connected with this general objective, in each chapter the following goals were established.