Financial constraints and short-term planning are linked to flood risk adaptation gaps in US cities

Adaptation is crucial for mitigating the inevitable impacts of climate change. This study investigates cities' adaptation to increased flood risk using a linguistic measure of adaptation derived from financial disclosures of 431 US cities (2013-2020). While higher flood risk correlates with increased adaptation, over half of high-risk cities exhibit below-average adaptation. The study explores three factors linked to this adaptation gap: financial constraints, short-term planning horizons, and political affiliation. Results indicate that financial constraints and shorter planning horizons significantly increase the likelihood of an adaptation gap, while political affiliation shows little association.

Shirley Lu, Anya Nakhmurina