The metabolism of a city is dependent on anthropogenic and natural physical inputs of energy and materials, processes for transforming those inputs for urban activities, additions to the stocks contained within its spatial boundaries, and the waste and emissions handling . The main purpose of this work consists on further developing methods that allow identifying the material consumption of activity sectors within a city . The method presented in this article allow s the use of internationally available data (e.g. OECD Input Output matrices) , which enables analysing a large range of urban areas . The method is applied to metropolitan economies in Europe (Lisbon and Paris) and Asia (Seoul - Incheon and Shanghai), and the variability of the physical structure of these economies is assessed . The urban areas are compared in terms of total and type of material input, destination of material inputs within the economy and analysis of the manufacturing sectors.