Neptis aims to illuminate the condition, structure, change, and growth of urban regions – particularly their built environments and landscapes. It funds and publishes objective data collection and analysis to inform discussions on matters that affect the quality of life in urban regions. Neptis believes that by enriching public knowledge of regional urbanism, it can exert a constructive and creative influence on the course of debate and decisions on regional management.

Neptis initiates, supports, and popularizes expert nonpartisan research and opinion on urban regions and their futures by leading academics and other researchers. Neptis serves as a resource to governments, the private sector, practitioners, students, and the public generally. It regards this activity as a kind of informational activism.

Neptis seeks to fill voids in regional knowledge, not to duplicate the work of government. It aims to bring scholarly research to public policy formation, and to dissolve boundaries between disciplines- both in research and in policy-making.