Explore content About the journal Publish with us Sign up for alerts RSS feed nature npj urban sustainability articles article Article Open access Michael Friesenecker , Antonia Schneider , Marianne Bügelmayer-Blaschek , Michael Getzner , Claudia Hahn , Sebastian Seebauer , Wojciech Zawadzki , Maja Zuvela-Aloise & Thomas Thaler npj Urban Sustainability 5 , Article number: 8 (2025) Cite this article Metrics Abstract As the management of extreme weather events becomes increasingly important, climate adaptation strategies are paramount. However, current climate adaptation strategies often overlook aspects of social inequality or even risk exacerbating these. An example is the implementation of Nature-based Solutions (NbS). These approaches can result in green gentrification; the displacement and exclusion of marginalized groups due to increased attractiveness and value of nearby property. The consideration of social impacts into climate adaptation policies represents a significant challenge because climate policies are usually determined independently from social policies (policy siloing). Here we demonstrate a decision-making process that ensures socially equitable climate adaptation in an urban area. The proposed decision-making framework consists of three sequential stages: (1) climate risk assessment, (2) adaptation analysis, and (3) impact analysis. This decision-making method is applicable to cities worldwide. The City of Vienna, Austria and NbS are used to illustrate how climate adaptation policy can be integrated with social policy to achieve socially equitable urban heat risk management. We showcase that breaking current policy silos is necessary to achieve a socially equitable climate change adaptation strategy. Introduction As temperatures globally rise at an unprecedented rate, the need to adapt to climate change has become part of mainstream planning and policy-making, particularly in urban regions 1 , 2 . Urban regions are especially affected by high and increasing summer temperatures caused by a combination of anthropogenic climate change and soil sealing 3 , 4 […]