This article summarizes and reflects upon the work presented in ‘The Unusual Suspects in Climate Change Adaptation – Small Coastal Cities and Towns’ special issue. Across the special issue the challenge of adapting coastal towns and small cities to the impacts of climate change was clearly evident. In order to address some of the challenges, an initial way forward is outlined here to act as a pathway for future research. The areas requiring particular focus include: building a network of coastal towns and small cities; estimates of numbers of coastal towns and small cities worldwide; cost estimates and funding sources; linking adaptation to higher-level agencies through Sustainable Development Goals and other reporting requirements; further research on the influence of tourism on coastal adaptation; and, a focus on more case studies from the Global South. It is hoped that with the momentum provided by the Sustainable Development Goals, the way forward provided by this special issue, and other research, coastal adaptation in smaller coastal settlements will greatly advance in the next decade.

本文总结并反思了“气候变化适应中的异常嫌疑人——沿海小城镇”特刊中的工作。在整个特刊中，使沿海城镇和小城市适应气候变化影响的挑战显而易见。为了应对一些挑战，这里概述了一个初步的前进方向，作为未来研究的途径。需要特别关注的领域包括：构建沿海城镇和小城市网络；全球沿海城镇和小城市数量的估计；成本估算和资金来源；通过可持续发展目标和其他报告要求将适应与更高级别的机构联系起来；旅游对海岸适应影响的进一步研究；和，关注来自全球南方的更多案例研究。希望在可持续发展目标提供的动力、本特刊提供的前进方向以及其他研究的支持下，较小的沿海定居点的沿海适应将在未来十年内大大推进。