ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a review of climate change impacts on the hydrological cycle and its actual and potential risks on the urban areas. The evaluation of impacts on urban settlements has to be identified on a regional scale, because there are only a few studies on impacts of climate change in cities. It is recognized that climate change, is an additional environmental challenge that will increase the already existing water problems in different regions. The negative impacts of climate change, such as the decreasing availability of water, the increase in annual river flows, or changes related to glacial melt, sea level rise and extreme events, will affect cities in almost every region; but cities in developing countries will suffer more because of challenges that are already faced, as well as a lack of economic resources for infrastructure and integrated water management programmes. To address urban water management, the concept of the urban water cycle has arisen, which provides a unifying concept for addressing climatic, hydrologic, land use, engineering and ecological issues in urban areas. Under this concept, adaptation strategies have to be addressed, integrating climate and water responses into development and poverty eradication.
