Usually the urban renovation strategies focus mainly on the physical changes and direct economic effects of renewal of brownfields, while much less attention has been paid to the analysis and importance of social networks that have in the meantime developed on the locations. In our UEL research we tried to analyse some of these missing elements and present how social networks affect spatial development of an area, and vice versa. It is an attempt to ‘evaluate’ the importance of social networks for the development of economic and especially social (community) activities in cities. In doing so, the UEL Ljubljana research emphasizes the great importance and need to maintain social networks as a prerequisite for the establishment and development of social activities in former industrial areas undergoing physical renewal.