This paper systematically assesses the academic literature to evaluate evidence on climate change adaptation in 199 coastal cities worldwide. Results 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, whereas 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 countries, and regarding particular adaptation types such as ecosystem-based adaptation.

Mia Wannewitz, Idowu Ajibade, Katharine J. Mach, Alexandre Magnan, Jan Petzold, Diana Reckien, Nicola Ulibarri, Armen Agopian, Vasiliki I. Chalastani, Tom Hawxwell, Lam T. M. Huynh, Christine J. Kirchhoff, Rebecca Miller, Justice Issah Musah-Surugu, Gabriela Nagle Alverio, Miriam Nielsen, Abraham Marshall Nunbogu, Brian Pentz, Andrea Reimuth, Giulia Scarpa, Nadia Seeteram, Ivan Villaverde Canosa, Jingyao Zhou, The Global Adaptation Mapping Initiative Team, Matthias Garschagen