This special issue is devoted to establishing a benchmark database and framework for the analysis and development of climate change adaptation in coastal communities with less than 100,000 people. These coastal towns and small cities often have limited information about local climate change impacts and typically lack both the financial resources and the engineering and planning bases to develop appropriate adaptation measures. As a result, much more needs to be done to assist small coastal cities and towns to plan and implement adaptation measures. The special issue includes six articles in addition to this Introduction: a typology for collecting and analysing information; an assessment of small island cases; three articles on coastal towns and cities of progressively larger populations, and finally a summary of the work and suggestions for the way forward in research and application.

本期特刊致力于建立一个基准数据库和框架，用于分析和发展沿海人口不到 10 万的社区的气候变化适应。这些沿海城镇和小城市通常对当地气候变化影响的信息有限，通常既缺乏财政资源，也缺乏制定适当适应措施的工程和规划基础。因此，需要做更多的工作来帮助沿海小城镇规划和实施适应措施。除本导言外，该特刊还包括六篇文章：收集和分析信息的类型学；对小岛病例的评估；三篇关于沿海城镇和人口逐渐增多的城市的文章，