The first decade of the 21st century has been marked by a paradigmatic transformation of the political culture - particularly in the context of the reorganization of local territories - which is mainly based on the multiplication of the practices of citizen participation in the active construction of policies and public spaces. The global diffusion and cross-pollination between the practices inspired by this new imagery turn this theme into an element of increasing importance to the deepening of democracy by building a new civility, enriching the ways of conducting politics and conquering new rights for men and women in different parts of the world. Moreover, the territorial issue has become increasingly central to the discussion of power reorganization.

The outbreak of creative proposals for the reorganization of political action, in continuous construction and transformation, highlights new frontiers, challenges and opportunities. Thus, the need to create a virtual space able to promote a continuous observation and on-going reflection about these innovative practices arises as an open space, where exchanges take place among people who promote and integrate participatory processes, who study them and collaborate on them, and who are interested in more information about the opportunities found in the territory where they live.

This is the ultimate goal of PEOPLES'. To constitute itself as an exchange forum, within a field of cooperation and information, in order to enable understanding and give visibility to participatory practices, and to discuss the structural conditions of power in its various forms.

The Observatory is presented under the acronym PEOPLES', and the apostrophe conveys the intended meaning of belonging. This way, we seek to promote the idea of the "PEOPLES' Observatory" as a space built by and for the community and the multiple manifestations of the organization and participation of people in power. The Observatory was born in November 2013, resulting from a merger of two pre-existing spaces of reflection: The Observatory of Participatory Practices (OPP-POVOS) and the Observatory of Local Government (OPL) under the coordination of researchers from the Centre for Social Studies, Giovanni Allegretti and Fernando Ruivo. The Observatory team working on the development and continuity of this project includes PhD students from the Doctoral Programme "Democracy in the Twenty-First Century" (CES/Faculty of Economy of the University of Coimbra) and junior researchers associated with several projects in line with PEOPLES' research lines. External partners (with different levels of formal association with CES activities) contribute to the growth of specific parts of this arena of debate open to all.