Limited Visions, Missed Directions. A Critical Analysis of Urban Climate Adaptation Plans for 45 Polish Cities

This study analyses 45 urban adaptation plans (UAPs) to examine visions for Poland’s future cities in the context of climate adaptation. Actor-network theory is employed as an analytical framework for the study’s systematic, quantitative and qualitative content analysis of how these documents translate climate risks into structured adaptation objectives and formalised visions of adapted cities. Specifically, the research material comprised two chapters from each city’s UAP – ‘Diagnosis of Climate Risks and Threats’ and ‘UAP Adaptation Vision and Objectives’ – from 44 UAPs developed as part of the Polish government project Wczujmy się w klimat! (Let’s Feel the Climate!) and Warsaw’s UAP. The analysis demonstrates that the translation within UAPs simplifies climate change into localised risks and prioritises meteorological and hydrological threats while overlooking socioeconomic dimensions. This selective framing forces a narrow focus on vulnerability, which leads to risk prioritisation and streamlines adaptation efforts. The UAPs visions reflect two primary adaptation paradigms – emphasising resilience in response to existential climate threats and integrating adaptation into broader urban development – with most cities adopting a hybrid approach. The adaptation objectives focus primarily on resilience (66% of actions) over mitigation or systemic socioeconomic considerations, which reinforces the use of a reactive rather than a transformative model. The study highlights the limitations of the UAP methodology, which equates climate adaptation with risk management rather than integrated climate action. A shift to adaptation that is oriented towards well-being or the reduction of maladaptation could improve the alignment between climate action and sustainable urban development.