In order to strengthen the metropolitan- and urban-area policy, as well as to encourage the stakeholders involved, the Confederation provides technical and financial support for the implementation of innovative model-projects proposed by communes/cities and cantons. The Metropolitan Lausanne Pilot Project is one of the first model-projects to be supported by the Confederation. The objective is to develop an innovative project involving collaboration at the Lausanne metropolitan level. The original partners are the City of Lausanne, the Lausanne Region and the Canton of Vaud.
The metropolitan project is a planning instrument by means of which it is possible to co-ordinate cross-cutting topics within a metropolitan area. It is based on horizontal collaboration (among partners within the metropolitan area) and vertical collaboration (Confederation - canton - metropolitan area). The objective is also to guarantee project co-ordination and implementation within metropolitan areas. The Confederation's financial participation in metropolitan-transport infrastructure projects is subject to the existence of a metropolitan project that co-ordinates transport and organisational planning and that has set up a single body given the responsibility of implementing this planning.
The Lausanne-Morges Metropolitan Project (PALM), which is in the process of being developed, is part of this framework. The project partners are the City of Lausanne, the Lausanne Region and the Canton of Vaud, the Association of Morges Region Communes (ACRM) and the City of Morges.