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

Progress and gaps in climate change adaptation in coastal cities across the globe | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Progress and gaps in climate change adaptation in coastal cities across the globe Matthias Garschagen, Mia Wannewitz, Idowu Ajibade, Katharine J. Mach, and 21 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3640385/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 26 Aug, 2024 Read the published version in Nature Cities → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version 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 climate change adaptation in 199 coastal cities worldwide. We 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, while 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 economies 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 adaption of coastal cities in the future. Earth and environmental sciences/Climate sciences/Climate change/Climate-change impacts/Governance Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental social sciences/Climate-change adaptation Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 26 Aug, 2024 Read the published version in Nature Cities → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-3640385","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":255233274,"identity":"4586e68b-0b2c-4e51-a74b-9a20bd18da7f","order_by":0,"name":"Matthias Garschagen","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA3ElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBCDBDD5oQDBJk4L4wwDUrUw8xCjRbeB/eLnij92efz9i489tjHYltjAnnwArxazAzzFkmfbkoslbjxLN84xuJ3YwPMMvzVALQmSjQ0HEhtunDGTBmuRyDEgpCX5Z8OfA4nzb5z/Jm0B1pL/gYAW9mOSDWwHEjec72GTZoDYglcHg9lhHjbLxrbkxI032MwkewxuG7fxPCPgsOPtj282/LFLnHf+8DOJHxW3ZfvZkx/gtwYaFwwMEgkQmg2/ehBgh5rJf4Cw2lEwCkbBKBiZAAC1w03vbdZueQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Department of Geography, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Matthias","middleName":"","lastName":"Garschagen","suffix":""},{"id":255233275,"identity":"d132bf29-1af4-48ff-b445-3cef9b2ee027","order_by":1,"name":"Mia Wannewitz","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1769-9877","institution":"Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit\u0026#x00E4","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mia","middleName":"","lastName":"Wannewitz","suffix":""},{"id":255233276,"identity":"03a6ac27-10b2-43d0-9ba0-214b9ba93a02","order_by":2,"name":"Idowu Ajibade","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Department of Environmental Sciences, Emory University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Idowu","middleName":"","lastName":"Ajibade","suffix":""},{"id":255233277,"identity":"59864412-f70c-44d4-9847-703b2b65b08d","order_by":3,"name":"Katharine J. 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