This book presents a set of chapters produced by six research groups that developed the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) Thematic Project Environmental Governance of the São Paulo macrometropolis (SPMM) in the face of Climate Variability (2017–2022). It represents an academic experience based on the articulation of knowledge and interdisciplinary dialogue. For this publication, the individual research groups benefitted from internal expertise and interdisciplinary input, reflecting the collaborative process of the entire team.

The SPMM is characterized by the diversity and complementarity of economic, social and environmental functions exercised in its territory, comprising 174 municipalities, with the capital city of São Paulo as its polarizing center. It is structured from a set of five metropolitan regions, two urban agglomerates and one micro-region—not institutionalized—in the State of São Paulo, sheltering around 34 million people who inhabit the richest and economically strongest region in Brazil. The SPMM, one of the urban territorial clusters of greatest expression in the southern hemisphere, is a strategic arena for the formulation and implementation of planning, governance and trans- and multi-scalar regional public policies.

The English translation of this book from its Portuguese original manuscript was done with the help of artificial intelligence. A subsequent human revision of the content was done by the volume editors.