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The use of ICT-based participation tools in urban design has gained importancein the last decade. In order to enable the citizens and other stakeholders toparticipate in city-making processes, a wide range of ICT-enabled participatorytools, techniques, and applications have been developed.. Many studies havereported that the use of these participatory platforms has led to positive outcomesbut the platforms` potentials and limits for facilitating different levels of designempowerment still remain unknown. In this context, this study aims to determinehow these platforms empower citizens' engagement and identify the key factorsthat can facilitate better participation practices. This research analyses 25ICT-based participation platforms by focusing on 4 key criteria:(1) theirobjectives, (2) the design action phases in which they are designated to be used,(3) their desired levels of design empowerment, and (4) offered functions. Ourstudy reveals that more than three-fourth of analysed platforms stillcomplemented by off-line participation activities. Empowering citizens to designindependently is still a challenging task so just three platforms (12%) allow usersto create their own plans and visions. Finally, we identify several influencefactors for better ICT-based participatory design practices.