The decentralization process in Ecuador coined in the Constitutions of 1998 and 2008 has vindicated the leading role of local governments as strategic spaces for democratic consolidation and the promotion of development at the territorial level. The objective of this article is to analyze how the set of reforms has influenced the reconfiguration of local governments over the last four decades. A structure is proposed that allows: i) a contextual approach to the origin and evolution of the decentralization process; ii) a characterization of the local space in terms of autonomies, competencies, associationism and financing; and iii) an account of local innovation processes in terms of new political agendas and management models. Methodologically, a qualitative case study is developed, based on the review of secondary sources processed on the basis of a descriptive inference exercise.