Abstract
Measurement is essential for effective adaptation management and operation, and indicators and metrics (I&M) have a pivotal role. Surprisingly, systematic efforts to assess advances in the provision of adaptation I&M are scarce, and those that do exist often lack in-depth analysis of the types, characteristics, and applicability of the collected information. Here, we analyse 137 publications and 901 I&M sourced in the scientific literature (2007–2022) to measure adaptation to climate change in urban areas where governments are increasingly placing efforts to prepare populations and infrastructures. A lack of common terminology, standardisation, and guidelines has resulted in a field that is complex to track and understand. This complexity has led to a fragmented methodological landscape, marked by diverse, context-dependent, and occasionally conflicting approaches to the development of I&M. We argue that conventional approaches to I&M are largely inadequate and must better emphasise quantifiability, long-term assessment, and alignment with policy objectives.
Data availability
Data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article (and its Supplementary Information) and online repositories. The information available through online repositories includes the dataset of publications and indicators and connected metadata, which can be found online at DOI [10.5281/zenodo.10663610] (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10663610).
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Acknowledgements
MO, AM and WL have been funded by the European Union (ERC, IMAGINE adaptation, 101039429). Their research is also supported by the María de Maeztu Excellence Unit 2023-2027 Ref. CEX2021-001201-M, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033; and by the Basque Government through the BERC 2022-2025 program. MO would like to acknowledge the support of the grant RYC2022-037585-I funded by MCIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and ESF+. LG, AV and MO are members of the SAREN Research Group funded by the Basque Government IT1619-22 and AV is funded by UPV/EHU PIF 2020 grant. This work was originally conceived during discussions of the Cities Committee of the International Platform of Adaptation Metrics (IPAM), led by MO.
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M.O. Conceptualisation; methodology; data collection stage 1; Data collection stage 2; data curation; formal analysis; writing—original draft; writing—review and editing; visualisation; supervision; funding acquisition. A.M. Data collection stage 2; data curation; formal analysis; visualisation; writing—review and editing. S.S. Methodology; data collection stage 1; data collection stage 2; formal analysis; writing—review and editing; visualisation. L.H.L. Data collection stage 1; Data collection stage 2; formal analysis; writing—review and editing. M.G. Methodology; data collection stage 1; data collection stage 2; visualisation. A.V. Methodology; data collection stage 1; data collection stage 2; writing—review and editing. L.G. Methodology; data collection stage 1; data collection stage 2; writing—review and editing. P.D.A. Data collection stage 1; data collection stage 2; writing—review and editing. A.S. Data collection stage 1; data collection stage 2; writing—review and editing. O.A. Data collection stage 1; data collection stage 2. P.M. Data collection stage 2; writing—review and editing. W.L. Data curation; writing—review and editing. B.I. Data collection stage 1. E.M. Data collection stage 1. I.F. Data collection stage 2.
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Olazabal, M., Mansur, A.V., Sahay, S. et al. Conventional approaches to indicators and metrics undermine urban climate adaptation.
npj Urban Sustain (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-025-00310-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-025-00310-z
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