Five cities that are adapting: How climate and water resilience can shape a better urban future

What do you do when a city floods during the monsoon, yet faces water shortages in the dry season? Or when you aim to build resilient infrastructure but are confronted with challenges such as informal settlements? For many cities, climate change is exposing these urban vulnerabilities, particularly in delta and coastal areas. Yet it also presents an opportunity to make cities not only more resilient, but also more liveable. We explored what makes a climate-resilient city, and the experiences of five delta cities on the front line of climate change: Semarang, Thủ Đức, Cartagena, Chennai and Beira.

Climate change poses a direct threat to the wellbeing of billions of urban residents. In all cities, climate-related risks are on the rise. At the same time, urbanisation continues to intensify. By 2050, nearly 70% of the world’s population will live in cities. This growth is putting increased pressure on infrastructure, water, space and public health. Mitigation alone is no longer enough. We must adapt to a climate where extremes are the new normal: too much, too little, or polluted water, as well as heatwaves and droughts.

Without action, damage to urban infrastructure could reach $415 billion per year. The urban poor are hit hardest, often living in high-risk areas without adequate protection. Yet urgency also brings opportunity. By approaching cities as interconnected systems, and working with water and nature, we can build climate-resilient cities that are not only robust, but also greener, healthier and more inclusive.

What is a climate-resilient city?

A climate-resilient city can absorb shocks, adapt to changing conditions, and recover quickly from extreme weather events such as sea level rise, heatwaves, flooding or drought. Resilience goes beyond physical structures – it also applies to institutions, governance systems, and communities. Increasingly, cities are moving from a mindset of control to one of working with change. With smart design, risks can be turned into opportunities: rainwater is captured and reused, urban heat becomes a driver for green and shaded spaces, and nature is integrated as vital infrastructure. Cities that plan ahead and reduce future risks can remain liveable, even under pressure.

Nature-based Solutions and climate-resilient cities

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are approaches to societal challenges that harness natural processes, such as vegetation, soil and water. For cities, they offer an important alternative to traditional ‘grey’ infrastructure such as drainage systems and concrete flood barriers. Because they evolve with changing conditions and deliver multiple benefits simultaneously, NBS are particularly well suited to strengthening urban resilience. Examples include green roofs that reduce heat stress and retain rainwater, or city parks and mangroves that buffer water and slow down flooding. When they are well integrated into urban planning and policy, NBS can create synergy between climate mitigation and adaptation, while also enhancing liveability and biodiversity.

Despite their proven value, NBS are still applied on a relatively limited scale compared to grey infrastructure. Upscaling is essential to ensure cities can withstand increasing pressure from heat, drought and extreme rainfall. Partners for Water works from a systems perspective to maximise the benefits of these solutions, developing sustainable approaches with a strong focus on operation and maintenance.

Five climate-resilient cities around the globe

Semarang

Semarang is a fast-growing coastal city on Java’s north shore that faces some of Indonesia’s most pressing climate challenges. The city’s population has grown from around 1 million to about 1.7 million over the past twenty years. Severe land subsidence – in some areas up to 20 centimetres per year – combined with tidal flooding, flash floods and water scarcity affects residents’ daily lives. Rapid urbanisation and reliance on groundwater extraction further worsen the risks. But the tide is turning: the city aims to become climate-resilient by 2045 through long-term, integrated planning.

To tackle its water challenges, Semarang applies a mix of measures. These include rainwater harvesting in homes and shared spaces to mangrove rehabilitation along the coast, vetiver planting to prevent landslides, and early warning systems for floods and vector-borne diseases. Building on these efforts, the Water as Leverage programme, supported by Partners for Water, pilots integrated, multi-stakeholder solutions that combine NBS with conventional infrastructure and smart data technologies. By bringing together Dutch and Indonesian expertise with strong local involvement, these projects support Semarang towards becoming a climate-resilient city. Read more about Semarang.

Cartagena

Colombia’s historic port city Cartagena is under pressure. The city is growing rapidly but faces rising sea levels, flooding and extreme heat. Most of its one million residents live in low-lying areas, making them especially vulnerable to flooding. By 2050, projections suggest that sea levels around Cartagena – amplified by ongoing land subsidence – could rise by more than 30 centimetres. These predictions put even greater pressure on coastal neighbourhoods. Through the Water as Leverage programme, with support from Partners for Water, residents, local experts and city officials are working together on plans that address both climate risks and socio-economic inequality.

The projects are small in scale but strategically placed, and include water plazas, elevated walkways, mangrove restoration, and improved access to drinking water. This approach integrates all the relevant aspects: design, nature, the social and environmental aspects, as well as the economic and financial ones. By placing local ownership at the heart of the process, the city is building a strong foundation for lasting, inclusive change. Read more about Cartagena.

Thủ Đức City

Thủ Đức City in Vietnam is a city in the making. Today it has just over one million inhabitants, but by 2050 it is expected to grow to around three million residents. Situated between the Saigon and Đồng Nai rivers, the new city is highly exposed to flooding. Extreme rainfall, high river levels, land subsidence and the interaction of these factors make water management a central challenge for its development.

With support from Partners for Water, a blue-green vision has been developed. It combines natural buffers, flood retention zones and smart urban design to better manage excess water. This vision has been translated into spatial plans and policy recommendations focused on working with water, alongside digital systems that support real-time water management. Without adaptation, annual flood-related losses are estimated at nearly USD 67 million and could more than double by the end of the century. By embedding Nature-based Solutions and digital water management systems into its spatial planning, Thủ Đức aims to grow into a resilient metropolis that can withstand both climate pressures and urban pressures. Read more about Thủ Đức City.

Chennai

Chennai is a fast-growing megacity in southern India. It faces a paradox of water extremes: severe flooding during the monsoon followed by extreme drought. Simultaneously, the city is steadily losing its capacity to retain water due to paved-over infrastructure, unregulated urbanisation and polluted waterways. Chennai’s traditional water bodies, known as ‘tanks’, once held around 188 million m³ of water. Urbanisation since the early 1900s has reduced this capacity by about 7%. The remaining 93% is located mostly outside the city and is increasingly threatened by encroachment, pollution and poor maintenance. To reverse this trend, the Water Resources Department aims to triple the city’s storage capacity by 2050.

The City of 1,000 Tanks project, supported by Partners for Water, supports this goal by drawing on the city’s ancient water infrastructure. The project restores these systems and links them to new NBS such as infiltration fields, retention ponds and other green infrastructure. By capturing, filtering and slowly recharging water locally, the project tackles both water scarcity and excess. The approach is modular, scalable and rooted in local collaboration with schools, businesses and communities. Chennai shows that climate adaptation is not only about innovation, but also about reviving and revaluing traditional knowledge. Read more about City of 1000 Tanks.

Beira

Mozambique’s port city of Beira is on the front line of climate change. In 2019, it was devastated by Cyclone Idai, which damaged around 70% of the city’s housing stock. Two years later, Cyclone Eloise in 2021 left another 20,000 homes – roughly 17% – damaged or destroyed. Together, the two storms caused over USD 2.4 billion in losses. But rather than focusing solely on recovery, Beira is pursuing structural transformation. Through the Masterplan 2035, developed with support from Partners for Water, the city is investing in climate-resilient urban development: from improved drainage and wastewater treatment to coastal protection and stronger local governance.

Through public and private partnerships, Beira is building climate-resilient homes with minimal construction costs or rent-to-buy schemes. This makes safe housing accessible to residents for whom home ownership would otherwise be entirely out of reach. Simultaneously, the city is updating its municipal cadastre to improve property registration and enable the collection of property taxes. This is a long-term strategy, focused on system change in order to become a truly climate-resilient city. Read more about Beira’s system change approach.

Seven building blocks for a climate-resilient city

1.        Systems thinking and integrated approaches

Climate adaptation only works when water, infrastructure, public health and governance are seen as part of an interconnected system. It must be addressed across all spatial scales, from the pavement to the metropolitan region.

2.        Making space for water

When cities actively allocate space for water through buffers, temporary retention zones and natural systems, rainfall becomes a manageable design element. It can even become a resource for future droughts.

3.        Flexibility and adaptive capacity

A resilient city is flexible and evolves as the climate and associated risks change. This requires future scenarios, room for experimental development, phased planning, and the ability to adjust course when needed.

4.        Monitoring and data analysis

Digital tools and modelling software can help detect risks early and support an effective response. Data collection and management form the foundation for improved policy and governance.

5.        Participation and local ownership

Solutions only have lasting impact when they are supported by the local community. Local engagement ensures context-specific solutions and fosters long-term ownership.

6.        Collaboration and governance

Coordination between governments, public and private organisations, knowledge institutions and residents are crucial for implementation and lasting impact.

7.        Working with nature

By cooperating with the natural processes of vegetation, rivers or mangroves rather than trying to control them, cities can develop sustainable and flexible solutions that support both climate adaptation and urban liveability.

Partners for Water for climate-resilient cities

When we view cities as interconnected systems and choose to work with nature rather than against it, we can build urban environments that are more resilient, greener, and more liveable than ever before.

Partners for Water supports cities around the world in building climate resilience through an integrated, systems-based approach. We promote the use of NBS and advise cities on innovative and sustainable water management. In doing so, we not only address water security, but also biodiversity, food security and healthy living environments.

Our support spans strategic guidance, from policy advice and planning to capacity-building within local governments. We also fund and facilitate pilot and feasibility studies that test scalable, sustainable and innovative water solutions.