Purpose – In contemporary city the competitiveness is increasingly played on creative regeneration to achieve a more comprehensive and sustainable development. As regards, the paper aims at illustrating the case study of creative urban regeneration of Lyon Confluence. Thanks to the Confluence renewal, that will be explained focusing on history of places, urban projects implemented, sustainable socio-economic regeneration and participation policies, Lyon is part of the Creative City Network promoted by UNESCO and is reaching quite a good ranking among world cities in Quality of living. A first assessment of critical and positive factors of this process, still under development, will conclude the paper. Design/methodology/approach – Our approach is focused on creative cities, which has its origin in the research into reasons why several cities gain attractiveness and competitiveness in recent decades. Such cities improve the interaction among urban regeneration, economic development and social renewal. These experiences show that their competitiveness is based on local peculiarities shaping the city brand. This case study is part of a broader research programme Innovation and competitivity in the global economy, in development by IRAT CNR. The objectives are: creation of a methodology aimed at identifying and designing the creative and identity resources in emblematic areas of urban transformation; identification of urban regeneration best practices; identification of guidelines for sustainable urban regenerations. Originality/value – The case study highlights, in an original way, an integrated approach to sustainable urban creative regeneration. In fact, Lyon is an emblematic case of urban regeneration among the French cities since the main project Lyon Confluence appears a singular example. It regards a particular territory with a strong identity, and its renewal seems to be able to both preserve nature and landscape, and revitalizing local economy consistent with the culture and vision of the residents. In 1995 Lyon started the renewal process aimed at launching the city at an international level, and attempted to change the Lyonnaise identity, based on silk and industrial production, redefining it on quality of life, attractiveness and creativity. Practical implications – The study described in this paper is related to the identification of the best practices of urban regeneration in Europe, and the conducted analysis is also aimed at gather suggestions and advice for policy makers. Although the Lyon Confluence renewal project is still under development, a first assessment of critical and positive factors of this process which will be described in the paper, could be carried out. This include the problems observed within the urban regeneration of Confluence which are essentially of physical and relational/cultural nature.