The research project analyzes the topography of public urban spaces exemplified in the cultural politics of re-naming streets related to the respective dictatorship past in the capitals of Spain and Portugal. It deals with the street name changes as an act of replacement of symbolism after the end of the Franco- and Salazar-dictatorships. Due to the different constellations of the transition process in each country, the underlying hypothesis is that the differing outcomes of the democratization processes are reflected in symbolic politics of street name changes in the post-dictatorship era.