How can urban centers adapt to climate change with ineffective or unrepresentative local governments?

This article considers the prospects for urban areas in the Global South to adapt to climate change. It describes how most of the needed adaptations in the next few decades can be integrated into existing government functions, investments, regulations, and agencies. It also considers why most such measures are unlikely to be implemented—because of either the lack of capacity within urban governments or their unwillingness to address the infrastructure and service needs of their low‐income populations. Most urban centers in the Global South also have very large deficits in the basic infrastructure and services that are needed for resilience to climate change impacts. The article also considers how the policies and practices of higher levels of government and international agencies need to change if the much needed adaptive capacity is to be built in urban areas. WIREs Clim Change 2011 2 767–776 DOI: 10.1002/wcc.136 This article is categorized under: Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change > Institutions for Adaptation Climate and Development > Urbanization, Development, and Climate Change Policy and Governance > Governing Climate Change in Communities, Cities, and Regions