As the framework and operational approach to promote sustainable urbanization, SUD-Net’s activities are embedded in key principles and characteristics:

• Mobilizing and strengthening global, regional, national and local partnerships/networks;
• Promoting local urban knowledge arenas (LUKAs), providing forums for knowledge sharing and interaction between local urban players;
• Catalyzing the knowledge-policy-practice and sharing it widely;
• Promoting in-house coherence through dynamic and inter¬disciplinary operational frameworks;
• Promotion of pro poor strategies, approaches and models; and
• Ensuring pro-poor urban initiatives and technological designs have as wide an impact as possible.

Through these principles UN-HABITAT provides a coordinated global portal through which urban players can access up-to-date information, interact and jointly engage through the SUD-Net partnerships and access basket funding. Unlike most existing networks and partnerships which are mainly sectoral and sometimes with specific regional foci, SUD-Net takes a systemic view of sustainable urban development. It applies an integrated approach to planning and management, which not only advances an inter-disciplinary interaction between urban players but also encourages planning of actions through a multi-actor mechanism. SUD-Net will bridge the North-South gap by strengthening regional networks, through smart partnerships and exchange of knowledge, tools and learning. By providing a coordinated global portal, urban players can access up-to-date information, interact and jointly engage through the SUD-Net partnerships and access basket funding. Given the different approaches to implementing policy initiatives that exist, SUD-Net will enable the urban players to read from the same page!

Within UN-HABITAT, SUD-Net plays a crucial role in gradually incorporating and consolidating existing initiatives and in strengthening inter-disciplinary collaboration on sustainable development issues. It is in line with the Habitat Agenda in carrying-out the Medium-term Strategic and Institutional Plan (MTSIP). SUD-Net is recognized as one of the targeted ongoing actions for advancing the Global Campaign for Sustainable Urbanization that will facilitate better choices for cities. The network thus reflects wider UN reforms and the ‘One-UN’ process.