A large proportion of the people in the Northern Periphery live in small towns and many of these communities are in long-term retreat. Building strong clusters of towns in remote fragile regions is a priority concern of the European Spatial Development Perspective but it requires a long-term commitment. This project is an extension of the current TOWNS NPP project which encourages the regeneration of networks of towns using ‘bottom-up’ planning and self-help, with each town seeking to advance through the work of voluntary groups drawn from the local business and community sectors. In this way, experiences and expertise are pooled and disseminated with other communities both locally and transnationally. However, in order to add to the results of the original project, the Small Towns II project places a greater emphasis on youth involvement.