Accounting for internal stocks in assessing the sustainability of urban systems: The case of ABC Paulista.

Highlights • We assess the stocks of three urban systems using emergy synthesis. • Materials and energy stored increase the size and complexity of the urban systems. • ABC developed and grown relying mainly on economic and social capitals. • Emergy Synthesis provides insight into the reliance of economic activity on natural capital. • Emergy Synthesis may guide the development of effective policies for urban systems. Abstract Environmental assessments of urban systems intend to help city managers to identify feasible measures towards the reduction of urban vulnerability and to the understanding on how cities are dependent on available resources. Through the emergy approach, city managers may recognize subcomponents from each building block that individually and collectively influence the municipalities' environmental performance. Internal stocks of the urban systems play an important role on cities functioning, and the interactions among economic, social and natural capital influence the municipal performance. This paper uses emergy synthesis to account for the internal stocks of the multi-urban system called ABC Paulista, the role of stocks in ABC development and growth. Three forms of capital (economic, social and environmental) were accounted for, which allowed describing the urban settlements according to their nature (such as service provider or industrial cluster). Results may assist policy makers in regard to urban aggregates sustainability and also in formulating policies for particular cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]