The ability of a coastal settlement to adapt to climate change is largely dependent upon access to a range of resources, which many coastal towns and small cities lack. Coastal small towns of less than 10,000 are therefore at a significant disadvantage compared to larger settlements when it comes to adaptation. One way to begin to overcome this disadvantage is to compare coastal small towns in order to identify efficiencies and support knowledge sharing. In this article we present and analyse five case studies of coastal small towns: Fuvemeh, Ghana; Kiyú, Uruguay; Hanko, Finland; Lemvig, Denmark; and Nome, Alaska, USA. A number of key outcomes and lessons were identified which highlights the need for a formal network of international coastal small towns to encourage and develop knowledge sharing practices going forward. A further lesson is the importance of using a range of indicators in order to establish the regional/national importance of a town. Basing this solely on population size can result in an erroneous interpretation of the significance (and therefore adaptive capacity) of a coastal small town. Finally, despite many barriers to adaptation in coastal small towns, being small offers some potential advantages, such as the possibility of being able to form a community consensus more easily, using 3D visualisations for adaptation planning, and having managed realignment as a realistic management option. It is imperative that climate change resilience in coastal small towns is increased by focussing on overcoming barriers and developing appropriate adaptation approaches by governments, non-governmental organisations, business, and researchers.

沿海定居点适应气候变化的能力在很大程度上取决于能否获得许多沿海城镇和小城市所缺乏的一系列资源。因此，在适应方面，与较大的定居点相比，人口不足 10,000 的沿海小镇处于显着劣势。克服这一劣势的一种方法是比较沿海小城镇，以确定效率并支持知识共享。在本文中，我们介绍并分析了五个沿海小镇的案例研究：加纳 Fuvemeh；基尤，乌拉圭；芬兰汉科；莱姆维格，丹麦；和诺姆，阿拉斯加，美国。确定了一些关键成果和经验教训，强调需要一个正式的国际沿海小城镇网络来鼓励和发展知识共享实践。另一个教训是使用一系列指标来确定一个城镇的区域/国家重要性的重要性。仅基于人口规模可能会导致对沿海小镇的重要性（以及适应能力）的错误解释。最后，尽管沿海小城镇的适应障碍很多，但小规模提供了一些潜在的优势，例如能够更容易地形成社区共识的可能性，使用 3D 可视化进行适应规划，以及将重新调整作为一种现实的管理选项进行管理. 通过政府、非政府组织、企业和研究人员克服障碍和制定适当的适应方法，提高沿海小城镇的气候变化适应能力势在必行。