Planos Diretores em Minas Gerais: vinte anos de exigência constitucional

This text deals with a part of the history of the elaboration of director plans in small and medium sized cities in Minas Gerais, Brazil, since the constitutional obligation, from 1988. This history has two distinct periods: the first twelve years, without the regulation of the article 182 of the Federal Constitution, and the following years, distinguished by the validity of the City Statute. In the first period, the history tells a series of failures and in the second, revived the expectation of more success considering the Statute principles: the property social function and the public participation.