Guide to Climate Change Adaptation in Cities

This Guide is a practical resource on responding to the challenges of climate change adaptation in cities. The principal intended audience is city officials and practitioners in developing countries, who are beginning to consider the issues of climate change adaptation, and can find in this guide an introduction and comprehensive overview of this evolving topic.

The Guide offers examples of good practices and successful experiences and describes other available resource materials and tools. It outlines practical perspectives, showing ways to link climate change to community priorities and other important city issues such as disaster risk reduction, economic development, public health, sustainability, food security and other priorities. In so doing, it can contribute to the development and implementation of adaptation plans in cities, strengthening capacities and helping to catalyze dialogue on adaptation among city managers and other stakeholders.

This knowledge product was prepared by the World Bank, with the participation of ICLEI and MIT, and produced through the World Bank – UNEP – UN-HABITAT Joint Work Program on Cities and Climate Change, supported by the Cities Alliance and financed by the Trust Fund for Environmentally & Socially Sustainable Development (TFESSD).

Executive Summary in English | Chinese | French | Portuguese | Spanish 

Table of Contents 

Forward

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction

2. Climate Change Impacts on Cities

3. Framing Adaptation in Cities

4. Developing a Roadmap for Adaptation

5. Informal Settlements, the Urban Poor, and Other Vulnerable Groups

6. Sector-Specific Adaptive Responses

7. Financing Adaptation in Cities

8. Conclusion

Appendix: The Basics of Climate Change Science

Glossary

For more information, contact UrbanHelp@worldbank.org.