This article presents the results of a survey on the receptiveness of the Brazilian new legal-urban order involving the decisions of the Rio Grande do Sul Court of Appeals between 2011 and 2015. The findings indicate that a particular form of judicial activism is practiced by the court since the effectiveness of the City Statute was higher when public authorities are defendants in the lawsuits and lower when individuals have the right of ownership questioned in court. Such selective way to apply the law implies a strengthening of the “proprietary modelâ€to the detriment of the emerging paradigm. The survey suggests that lack of knowledge about the new legal-urban order on the part of both litigants and magistratesexplains the low effectiveness of the City Statute in the judicial trenches.