This paper presents an ongoing doctoral research project on the trajectory of Participatory Budgeting (PB) in João Pessoa, Brazil, between 2005 and 2025. Although PB has become a global symbol of democratic innovation, widely praised for promoting civic inclusion and social accountability, its institutional stability under changing political administrations remains uncertain. Understanding how PB evolves—or fails to evolve—across shifts in governance is essential to assessing its democratic potential. While the literature on PB in Brazil is extensive, it has focused predominantly on cases from the South and Southeast, leaving the Northeast comparatively underexplored. In particular, few studies examine how PB in non-hegemonic urban contexts is redefined over time through changes in institutional design, policy goals, target publics, and technological integration. This study analyzes three distinct phases of PB in João Pessoa—Orçamento Democrático, Orçamento Participativo, and Você Prefeito—to investigate how successive municipal administrations reconfigured participatory formats, incorporated or excluded digital tools, and mobilized political and discursive strategies to legitimize reform. Grounded in historical institutionalism, the research combines document analysis with semi-structured interviews with public officials and PB councilors. By treating PB not as a fixed institutional model but as a contested arena of continuity, adaptation, and erosion, the study contributes to broader debates on the limits of institutionalized participation, the political uses of democratic innovations, and the role of technology in shaping participation in peripheral urban contexts.