Urban climate actions: connecting city characteristics to planning responses

Cities, recognized as complex adaptive systems and epicentres of both climate vulnerability and innovative solutions, are increasingly adopting Climate Action Plans (CAPs) to navigate climate change. While considerable literature explores how various urban characteristics (climatic, physical, socio-anthropological, environmental) influence climate vulnerability, exposure, adaptation and mitigation responses, there is a gap in empirically understanding which of these distinct characteristics most powerfully drive the selection and prioritization of specific climate actions and interventions. This research aims to address this issue by systematically analysing the planned actions within the CAPs of twenty diverse global cities in relation to their unique urban fingerprints. Using multivariate statistical analysis to cluster cities by their characteristics and natural language processing to classify CAP actions, we empirically investigate the relationships between distinct urban profiles and the resulting climate action choices. Our analysis reveals that while cities facing severe, immediate climate pressures often prioritize community-level adaptation, mitigation and hazard awareness measures, cities with higher economic development tend to integrate climate action more broadly within economic restructuring and advanced policy frameworks. This study offers an in-depth understanding of how urban context translates into tangible climate actions, from a global perspective, aiming to inform more effective and tailored climate strategies for urban resilience.