From vulnerability to adaptation: A systematic review of land-based economic outcomes of adverse climate events

Cities worldwide are experiencing unprecedented climate pressures that call for evidence-based adaptation planning and design strategies. An active area of research has emerged to explore how various adaptation policies mitigate the adverse economic impacts and help build resilience following adverse climate events. Following the PRSIMA protocol, this review systematically screened extensive relevant literature and ultimately include 108 original papers for bibliometric analysis. We reveal critical gaps in geographical coverage, hazard diversity, property types, and cascading impacts. Furthermore, a random-effects meta-analysis is conducted to compile 44 estimates of treatment effects on property values reported by quasi-experimental studies. We find that magnitude of vulnerability to hazard exposure decreased by 7.7% on average when equipped with adaptation measures. The results are robust to using implementation of adaptation as an alternative treatment definition. However, our review also reveals substantial heterogeneity, and even opposing effects amplifying vulnerability, where adaptation practices can trigger unintended consequences, prove cost-inefficient, or exacerbate preexisting inequalities. By synthesizing these empirical findings, we propose a four-quadrant policy matrix to explain the heterogeneity of adaptation effects, which is informative for policymakers designing concerted policy portfolios. Our review also outlines a roadmap for future research to unpack information channels and the interplay between different climate adaptation activities. © 2025 Elsevier B.V.