In global European cities, youth from immigrant origin who live in disadvantaged areas are disconnected from the networks likely to offer them educational and work opportunities. However, in these poor areas, the negative structural conditions contrast with the capacity of action led by the social networks. We are witnessing the rebirth of localism as a way of condemning the weakening of the Welfare State.There are no comparative studies among North-western and Southern European countries that focus on the principal role played by the civil society in the socialization of youngsters in peripheral neighborhoods. LOCALYOUTH therefore fills a need for comparing the situation of youths between 16 and 29 years in two banlieues of Paris and two barrios of Madrid by taking into account the collective action taken in these environments at a grassroots level. Through an in-depth study of four integration projects of urban and social development a critical evaluation shall be performed on the role played by community networks. An analysis of the importance of the ethnic and gender dimension in the composition of those networks will also be done.The methodology combined case studies, comparative-historical perspective and sociological intervention. Participation observation in associations will be carried out and combined with interviews to people with a long life history in local areas and focus groups with social educators, leaders of associations and policy makers involved in the projects selected for the analysis. In addition, two Sociological Interventions in Madrid and Paris will provide an in-depth knowledge about the situation of the young people and the news dynamics of local participation in two European countries. In summary, LOCALYOUTH offers news keys of analysis to understand and demonstrate a shift towards a new localism and identify the elements (inside the ethnic and local community) that help or limit the upward mobility of youth from immigrant origin.