Drivers and barriers to municipal climate change adaptation: a comparative analysis of selected measures and different implementation stages

Abstract Municipalities play a crucial role in climate change adaptation and can be sites for a diverse range of structural and non-structural adaptation measures that exhibit varying planning and implementation conditions. However, comparative insights into the drivers and barriers influencing various kinds of adaptation measures across different stages of implementation remain limited. This study addresses this gap by combining a survey of municipal administrations in Germany ( n = 101 from 59 cities) with qualitative methods in three cities, focusing on both general climate change adaptation measures and five specific measures: (1) urban climatic maps, (2) pluvial flood hazard maps, (3) checklists for integrating climate change adaptation into urban land-use planning, (4) municipal bans on gravel gardens, and (5) façade greening of public buildings. Our analysis identifies key factors such as (scarce) resources and (lack of) administrative support that facilitate or impede the implementation of measures in general. While these factors are also reported to be crucial for the five specific measures, the degree of relevance of these and other factors varies across the specific measures and the cities that have already or have not yet planned or implemented them. For regular use or maintenance after implementation, scarce resources remain a key limiting factor, while legal issues become more critical. The article concludes that the drivers and barriers for specific actions and stages of the implementation process vary, and that a more profound understanding of the influencing factors can be used to support local action more effectively.