Despite cities generating wealth, additional vulnerability to climate change is being created in urban areas every day. Demographic change, social and economic pressures, and governance failures that drive inequality and marginality mean that increasing numbers of people who live in towns and cities are exposed to flooding, temperature extremes and water or food insecurity. This leads to an adaptation gap, where rich neighbourhoods can afford strategies to reduce vulnerability while poorer communities are unable to do the same. Although this would be so even without a changing climate, climate change increases the variability and extremes of weather, exposing more people, businesses and buildings to floods and other events. The combination of rising vulnerability and increasing exposure translates to a growth in the number of people and properties at risk from climate change in cities worldwide.
IPCC
Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
IPCC Report