Cities in general are known as centres of consumption, pulling into their boundaries the natural resources they need. However, simultaneously cities and their regions are centres of production. To ensure the resilience of a region in front of unknown future economic or environmental shocks, it is necessary to take into account both of these functions and search for best fitted local solutions. This paper explores the overarching topic of what are the balanced sustainable options for regional development to build a more resilient and more environmentally sustainable economy in South East Queensland (SEQ), in light of the socioeconomic data available. In particular it examines which industries could provide pathways for a resilient and sustainable economy. To do this, it draws on related methods developed for evaluating sustainability of economic activities in a region: the urban metabolism and extended input-output analysis (IOA) in the form of a type of 'triple bottom line' analysis. The paper also explores the issue of relevant boundary setting in this type of analysis based on data from SEQ region. The paper concludes with the identification of the Manufacturing and the Professional, scientific and technical services sectors as areas of activity needing further investigation. It challenges the view that manufacturing is a dying industry and calls for more in-depth studies of the connections between this industry and others.