Metropolitan areas are both hubs of wealth production andeconomic development and areas that are host to the poorestpopulations, a large part of which originate from otherregions or countries. These inhabitants are mainlyconcentrated in deprived areas of the agglomerations.To successfully generate their sustainable development,the cities must implement regeneration projects in areasof social housing, combining major urban interventions(demolition/restructuring/rehabilitation) and interventionsin social, cultural and economic terms with employment,education, health, transport infrastructure, prevention and security initiatives. The aim of the network is thus to supportsocial cohesion at the neighbourhood level by enablingdeprived urban neighbourhoods at the same time tocontribute to the competitiveness surrounding cities andregions.Following on from the methods developed by the REGENERAnetwork this pilot Fast Track network (PFTN) seeks to set upnew urban and social regeneration projects. The principalactions are:1. Diagnosis of the area (place/people/institutions).What are the circumstances of the site and its inhabitantsand which objectives are being pursued at different levelswithin the area?2. Programmes/projects - How are the programmesformulated? Strategies applied to different fields (housingconditions, economy, employment, social and culturalinitiatives, developments, health, prevention, security,transport infrastructure, etc.)3. Citizen participation methods4. Partnerships and management of projects both in termsof neighbourhoods, cities, urban agglomerations and in termsof technical elements and politics5. Bringing together human and financial resources (suitedto objectives, leverage effect of additional loans – particularlyfrom Europe, securing private funding, etc…)6. Programme and project assessmentThe outputs of phase I of this PFTN (financed throughURBACT I) are a baseline study, the work programme forphase II and a framework for local action plan. The outputsof phase II project financed through URBACT II will bethe setting up of Local Support Group and local action planfor each partner city. Achievements: Please refer to the 'Description' field, which also includes the achievements of this project.