This research explores an understanding of social participation in the common spatial areas of favelas. This effort evaluates the effectiveness of the participation experience in the development of the Master Plan of Rocinha, created by Luiz Carlos Toledo’s group in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The research evaluates the participation project based on three criteria as proposed by Spinuzzi that identify potentialities, deadlocks and challenges of the project. It presents a reflection on participatory planning in Brazil, through analyzing the principles and guidelines established in the Constitution of 1988, the Status of the City from 2001 and Participatory Master Plan2 of the Ministry of the Cities. It also compares the principles of participatory politics present in these documents as well as theoretical studies of social participation itself. As the case study demonstrates the Master Plan of the Rocinha favela considered a sampling of all the participatory elements addressed in this research. In the final analysis, the research intends to solve the following problem: What is the relevance of Participatory Planning according to the example of the Master Plan of the Rocinha Community in Rio de Janeiro? This research identifies itself as a work of exploratory research based on a bibliographical survey and interviews. It thus takes the form of bibliographic research, documental research and case study.