Amidst increasingly protracted and complex crises and ‘development emergencies’, the operational environment for development agencies like UNDP requires programming approaches that can be applied across the humanitarian development-peace nexus. These approaches must integrate interventions from multiple sectors and be truly locally owned. After decades of use in development practice, area-based programming (ABP) still has the potential to meet these simultaneous needs. This paper explores the unique characteristics of ABP and its applicability to complex development and crisis settings. It further proposes new frontiers of practice moving forward.