SCP’s Environmental Planning and Management approach promotes a city management process that is built on the following premises:

• Sustainable cities are fundamental to social and economic development; they are engines of growth.
• Environmental degradation adversely affects economic efficiency and social equity, and hence obstructs the development contribution of cities.
• Environmental degradation is not inevitable; what is required is a proactive management approach built on an understanding of the complex interactions between development and environment.

The EPM approach allows priority environmental issues in a city to be effectively addressed. It is a process-oriented framework that permits the different stakeholders to negotiate strategies and seek solutions collectively to common priority issues.