This paper contributes to questioning the renewal of the roles and status associated with the mixed-use arterial corridors in urban areas through the perspective of the project approaches participating in their effective transformation. In a context claiming to “renew the city in the city”, these “arterial streets” appear today to be associated with new rebalancing challenges between the different urban functions. Such reconsideration leads then to a larger inquiry about the extent of the potential programmes and projects induced by these changes and the potential forms of such reinvestment. The latter have been studied through an empirical investigation that compares the London High Street 2012 and Lyon Garibaldi Street projects. An analytical framework using the notion of “urban links” reveals a large diversity of objectives and forms within the projects developed on those urban axes and at the same time a diversification of the ambitions associated with them.