ABSTRACT: Climate change will be a reality that cities must face in the coming decades. The magnitude of the impacts will depend on the capacity of cities to reduce their vulnerability and expand their capacity to cope with these changes. In this way, Latin American cities are likely to be seriously affected by climate change because they have a high rate of urban poverty, lack of appropriate infrastructure, as well as a significant number of people living in slums located on environmentally fragile sites. This research aims to analyze qualitatively the current state of the art of adaptation of cities in the Latin American scenario by identifying the cities that have already designed an Adaptation Plan, and the level which this document addresses adaptation issues, such as reduction of vulnerabilities in urban areas and improvement of adaptation capacity. Therefore, this paper will firstly conduct a literature review related to climate change adaptation, regarding concepts like vulnerability, risk and adaptive capacity considering the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concepts (IPCC, 2014); and secondly, it will examine the Adaptation Plans, together with scientific articles related to them. Finally, it will discuss the level of Climate Adaptation aspects through those selected plans. This work is part of the research being developed as a Master’s thesis.
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