Climate Change in Cities and Urban Areas: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability

The second volume in the Summary for Urban Policymakers (SUP) series, Climate Change in Cities and Urban Areas: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, offers a concise and accessible distillation of the IPCC Working Group II Report. Cities are places of high risks from climate change, resulting from the interaction of climate change hazards, the exposure of infrastructure, people and ecosystems, the vulnerability of exposed elements and communities, and the negative or unintended effects of responses to climate change to people and ecosystems. This report assesses the feasibility and effectiveness of different adaptation options but highlights that adaptation has limits and can even lead to maladaptation, triggering unintended effects which increase risk, emissions and lock-ins. It synthesises the latest evidence on the necessary urban-led transformation, as well as evidence on operationalizing the five simultaneous system transitions across land, coastal, ocean and freshwater ecosystems; cities, regions, and infrastructure; energy and industrial systems, accelerated by societal choices. Cities and urban areas have a critical role to play in the climate resilient development needed to meet goals of climate change, human wellbeing, and ecosystem health challenges.