García Fernández, CristinaPeek, DanielDawson, J. RichardHeidrich, Oliver2024-01-302024-01-302017García Fernández, Cristina; Peek, D; Dawson, R; Heidrich, O.https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/96547Through local policies and regulation, participation in national programmes, and membership in transnational networks, cities have been shown to play an important role in the configurations of climate change governance beyond their city boundary and the nation-state.This article describes the institutional processes for climate change in cities, focusing on different levels of governance. The research investigated the activities of the European Union (EU), national and municipal governments and citizen networks in Spain. It utilises Barcelona and Madrid as two Spanish cities that have developed and implemented responses to climate change. The article covers a relevant research gap, since there are relatively few city case studies in Spain that investigate the governance connections at different institutional levels in terms of climate change. We show how different levels of government in adaptation planning and the strength of community networks of stakeholders can do both: reduce costs and improve the efficacy of climate initiatives. The article demonstrated the need for our societies to adapt in the short and long term to address the impacts of global warming and reduce our vulnerability tothis global but also very local problem.engAttribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/journal articlehttps://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/NOMA/open accessAdaptationVulnerabilityAdaptation strategiesSustainable citiesPublic AdministrationMulti-level governanceUrban resilienceCiencias Sociales59 Ciencia Política