The objective of this map book is to provide a scientific and technical background to the EEA website’s
maps (1). The explanatory texts accompanying the maps in the digital map book have been derived directly
from the more elaborate fact sheets in this report. In 2012, the EEA published the report Urban adaptation to
climate change in Europe - Challenges and opportunities for cities together with supportive national and
European policies (EEA, 2012). As a follow-up to this report, a technical paper on urban vulnerability indicators
(Swart et al., 2012) explored the availability of information on exposure, sensitivity and response to a variety
of urban climate threats, and the feasibility of developing vulnerability indicators that could be mapped. The
current map book is based on the findings of these earlier reports and adds more detailed assessments on the various indicators.