The 2011 edition of the biennial Global Report on Human Settlements is on cities and climate change. It examines the links between urbanization and climate change, the potentially devastating effects of climate change on urban economies and populations and the policy responses and practices that are emerging in urban areas. It also emphasizes the importance of considering these issues – as cities include a high proportion of the people and assets most at risk from climate change, and as any successful strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to avoid dangerous climate change will require city strategies, especially for more prosperous cities and nations.

The various chapters cover the international climate change framework, the contribution of urban areas to climate change and the impacts of climate change on urban areas; also climate change mitigation responses, climate change adaptation responses and a final chapter with conclusions and policy directions. As with previous Global Reports, there feature many boxes illustrating case studies – for example, the contributions of New York City, São Paulo, Mexico City and Cape Town to greenhouse gas emissions; the impacts of climate change on tourism, insurance and poverty; and the adaptation strategies of households in informal settlements in Dhaka and Lagos, and the risk reduction strategies of the Philippines Homeless People’s Federation.