In Colombia, the Political Constitution of 1991 brought about a transformation in citizen participation, which meant a change in the design of public policies and Public Management, mainly in the development of Plans, Programs and Projects. These dynamics were reflected in the field of territorial organization, especially with the formulation of a regulatory framework that aims at the creation of various territorial management instruments, such as Land Management Plans. This research presents an analysis of the participation process of diverse actors in the design of the Arauca Departmental Territorial Ordering Plan -POTD-, during the period of 2016-2019. Background, advances, advantages and disadvantages of citizen participation were reviewed within the framework of public policies aimed at land use planning and how these directly influenced the construction of Arauca POTD. Which led us to establish guidelines to strengthen citizen participation and boost public management in order to improve the design and implementation of the plan. It is concluded that the current design of the POTD presents a high hierarchical exercise, which, although it arises from the dynamics of compliance with the norm, limits citizen participation, generating decontextualization of the plan and a low articulation among actors in the territory.