Beyond coastal hazards: A comprehensive methodology for the assessment of climate-related hazards in European coastal cities

As climate change intensifies, European coastal cities face escalating risks from multiple climate-related hazards. Addressing these challenges requires capturing the multifaceted nature of climate risks adequately. This paper presents a novel multi-hazard risk assessment methodology for European coastal cities, which integrates indicators of hazard, exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. It advances beyond existing models by incorporating a wide array of climate-related hazards and significant indicators. Applied to six diverse coastal cities across different climatic zones and urbanization levels, the methodology proves robust and versatile, offering a comprehensive approach to understanding climate risks. Findings reveal that Varna has the lowest hazard score compared to other cities. Cork and Viana do Castelo are significantly affected by coastal hazards, while La Spezia exhibits very low coastal hazard scores but high land hazard scores. The exposure component ranges between medium and low values, with a maximum in Klaipeda and a minimum in Viana do Castelo. In terms of vulnerability, Viana do Castelo and Bergen stand out, while Cork exhibits the lowest score. Finally, risk presents a balanced landscape, where cities with the highest scores in hazard and exposure also exhibit the lowest levels of vulnerability and vice versa. The discussion on policy implications advocates for participatory resilience-building, leveraging new technologies and non-traditional indicators to enhance urban adaptive capacity. The granularity and specificity inherent to the proposed methodology offer a tool to compare and identify high-risk cities systematically, allowing for a more informed and targeted approach to resilience building and strategic allocation of often limited resources. • Baseline risk assessment methodology. • Comprehensive set of climate-related hazards. • Wide set of indicators of exposure and vulnerability. • Application to six diverse coastal cities. • Decision support tool for coastal management.