Progress and gaps in climate change adaptation in coastal cities across the globe

Coastal cities are at the frontlines of climate change impacts, resulting in an urgent need for substantial adaptation. To understand whether, and to what extent, cities are on track to prepare for climate risks, this paper systematically assesses the academic literature to evaluate evidence on climate change adaptation in 199 coastal cities worldwide. Results show that adaptation in coastal cities is rather slow, of narrow scope and not transformative. Adaptation measures are predominantly designed based on past and current—rather than future—patterns in hazards, exposure and vulnerability. City governments, particularly in high-income countries, are more likely to implement institutional and infrastructural responses, whereas coastal cities in lower-middle-income countries often rely on households to implement behavioral adaptation. There is comparatively little published knowledge on coastal urban adaptation in low- and middle-income countries, and regarding particular adaptation types such as ecosystem-based adaptation. These insights make an important contribution for tracking adaptation progress globally and help to identify entry points for improving adaptation of coastal cities in the future. This study performs a systematic review of empirical evidence for climate change adaptation in coastal cities around the world. It found that reported adaptation is mostly slow, narrow, and not transformative as coastal cities predominantly focus their adaptation on past and current challenges, and not future scenarios of risk.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nature Cities
Published
2024-08-26
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s44284-024-00106-9
Citations
52
Primary Topic
Climate Change, Adaptation, Migration
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
58.86

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article

Progress and gaps in climate change adaptation in coastal cities across the globe

Vasiliki Ι. Chalastani, Justice Issah Musah-Surugu, Andrea Reimuth, Nadia Seeteram et al.
52 citations
Nature Cities
Climate Change, Adaptation, Migration
58.86
article

Progress and gaps in climate change adaptation in coastal cities across the globe

Vasiliki Ι. Chalastani, Justice Issah Musah-Surugu, Andrea Reimuth, Nadia Seeteram, Lam Thi Mai Huynh, Idowu Mopelola Ajibade, Abraham Marshall Nunbogu, Miriam Nielsen, Tom Hawxwell, Jan Petzold, Iván Villaverde Canosa, Nícola Ulibarrí, Brian Pentz, Katharine J. Mach, Giulia Scarpa, Gabriela Nagle Alverio, Christine Kirchhoff, Diana Reckien, Mia Wannewitz, Rebecca K. Miller, Alexandre Magnan, Armen Agopian, Jingyao Zhou
article en
52 citations

Abstract

Coastal cities are at the frontlines of climate change impacts, resulting in an urgent need for substantial adaptation. To understand whether, and to what extent, cities are on track to prepare for climate risks, this paper systematically assesses the academic literature to evaluate evidence on climate change adaptation in 199 coastal cities worldwide. Results show that adaptation in coastal cities is rather slow, of narrow scope and not transformative. Adaptation measures are predominantly designed based on past and current—rather than future—patterns in hazards, exposure and vulnerability. City governments, particularly in high-income countries, are more likely to implement institutional and infrastructural responses, whereas coastal cities in lower-middle-income countries often rely on households to implement behavioral adaptation. There is comparatively little published knowledge on coastal urban adaptation in low- and middle-income countries, and regarding particular adaptation types such as ecosystem-based adaptation. These insights make an important contribution for tracking adaptation progress globally and help to identify entry points for improving adaptation of coastal cities in the future. This study performs a systematic review of empirical evidence for climate change adaptation in coastal cities around the world. It found that reported adaptation is mostly slow, narrow, and not transformative as coastal cities predominantly focus their adaptation on past and current challenges, and not future scenarios of risk.

Nature CitiesVol. 1(9)
University of Southern California (US), The Nature Conservancy (US), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Pennsylvania State University (US), University of Leeds (GB), University of Ghana (GH), University of Miami (US), Emory University (US), University of Waterloo (CA), Duke University (US), National Technical University of Athens (GR), United Nations Environment Programme (KE), University of California, Irvine (US), HafenCity University Hamburg (DE), Cawthron Institute (NZ), The University of Tokyo (JP), Columbia University (US), La Rochelle Université (FR), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (DE), University of Twente (NL), Stanford University (US)
National Science Foundation, Joint Programming Initiative Urban Europe, European Commission, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation
Climate action
Openalex Percentile: Top 0%
Climate Change, Adaptation, Migration
58.86
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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