Articles | Volume 80, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-80-473-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-80-473-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Standard article
| 
26 Nov 2025
Standard article |
| 26 Nov 2025
| 26 Nov 2025
Small towns taking different climate change adaptation paths: challenging the dominant leadership paradigm
Wolfgang Haupt
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Urban Sustainability Transformations, Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space, Erkner, 15537, Germany
Department of Geography, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, 80333, Germany
Nicole Mitchell
Environmental Policy Research Centre, Freie Universität, Berlin, 14195, Germany
Carolin Herdtle
Environmental Policy Research Centre, Freie Universität, Berlin, 14195, Germany
Julia Teebken
Department of Geography, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, 80333, Germany
Related authors
Peter Eckersley, Wolfgang Haupt, Viviana Wiegleb, Jens Niewind, and Antje Otto
Geogr. Helv., 78, 369–380, https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-78-369-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-78-369-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Research into climate adaptation may neglect activities that are (1) not undertaken by government bodies, (2) not designed specifically to reduce the potential impact of climate threats and/or (3) not labelled explicitly as
adaptation. We present a framework to examine these under-explored initiatives and draw on two studies of municipalities and small businesses in Germany to highlight various activities that contribute to climate resilience but are largely unintentional and/or hidden.
Peter Eckersley, Wolfgang Haupt, Viviana Wiegleb, Jens Niewind, and Antje Otto
Geogr. Helv., 78, 369–380, https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-78-369-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-78-369-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Research into climate adaptation may neglect activities that are (1) not undertaken by government bodies, (2) not designed specifically to reduce the potential impact of climate threats and/or (3) not labelled explicitly as
adaptation. We present a framework to examine these under-explored initiatives and draw on two studies of municipalities and small businesses in Germany to highlight various activities that contribute to climate resilience but are largely unintentional and/or hidden.
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Short summary
Drawing on case study research in Germany, our study shows that climate change adaptation activities of peripheral small towns differ substantially from those of larger, more well-resourced cities. The lack of institutional capacities fosters creative policy approaches that focus on creating and maintaining links between municipal administration and civil society and thus aim to establish adaptation as a shared societal task.
Drawing on case study research in Germany, our study shows that climate change adaptation...
