Climate adaptation and response: Progress of research and planning strategies in China

Global warming and climatic disasters have intensified hazards to urban safety and human lives. To alleviate the detrimental effects of climate change, it is essential to implement adaptive measures to strengthen urban resilience. In 2020, China, accounting for 18 percent of the world population and having undergone industrialisation in thirty years, is both a victim of climate change threats and a participant in global climate risk mitigation initiatives. China's coping policies possess distinctiveness and specific benefits within its unique socialist market economy. This study employs CiteSpace to examine the research trajectories and trends of scholars from Chinese institutions in urban planning related to climate change from 1990 to 2023. It subsequently analyses national policies and local actions through text mining, culminating in a discussion of the measures undertaken. (1) Evaluating the effects of urban spatial systems on climate change and modelling their interrelationship has emerged as a crucial tool for recognizing and enhancing urban spatial adaptation. (2) Climate-resilient urban development initiatives, including low-carbon economies, low-carbon cities, and low-impact development, have garnered significant attention in China; however, there are problems in practice. (3) Adaptive governance, as a bottom-up, cooperation-prioritised strategy to address climate change, needs to be urgently promoted by the government. The essay serves as a reference for scholars to comprehend China's research trajectory on climate change and provides ideas for regions to reconcile economic development with low-carbon environmental protection in the context of climate adaptation.