The EM Tools involves four steps which creative practitioners cycle through as required: 

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1. Observe: the performer carefully observes the urban space, events, situations, objects and people. S/he explores the properties, options and possibilities available to interact and embody the urban complexity. 

2. Capture: the performer maps urban space through body actions, creating a posture or an action with the body that captures the properties of an object/event. The performer memorizes the body  posture, storing as many different captures as possible.

3. Repeat: the performer selects and repeats previously captured body actions in the studio. The performer repeats the captures, re-enacting the same postures and trying to be as faithful as possible to the original actions. She or he creates an archive of postures and actions, embodied, memorized and repeatable.

4. Compose: the performer composes a score using the body postures and actions, organizing and reconfiguring the postures/captures in a choreographic score.

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In this method, the first two steps are always performed in the urban space and the last two phases are always performed indoors in a studio. EM tools may also be of use to scholars and practitioners working in the fields of urban studies, critical cartography and experimental urban mapping research, and may be adapted in workshops for children as well as adults.