The federal programme Social City represents a concept that is different from traditional urban planning, social work and local economic development as well as planning concepts in various ways. The developmental processes to be set into motion on the level of city districts: should make cooperation between various sectors and actors a key issue; should encourage them to invest into this cooperation and use the resources to be brought about by their participation and furthermore, the participation of various groups of the local population is foreseen. Building up the respective institutional premises for this kind of networking and participation is part of the programme. Thereby urban planning and policies in social work and social services are to be brought into cooperation. The paper is based on an evaluative study of such local policy networks as they take place in one of the Länder, Hessen. Central results of the analysis will be presented, and suggestions for the programme's further development as a new concept of governance at the local level include some reflections on its potential for legitimising social work in community building.