Comparative Discourse Analysis of Urban Climate Resilience in Iran and Leading Global Cities within the Socio-Ecological Systems Framework

Abstract

The intersection of rapid urbanization and climate change has positioned cities at the epicenter of environmental crises. Nevertheless, a profound gap persists between the scientific literature produced in Iran and dominant global paradigms in the field of urban climate resilience. The present study was conducted to systematically analyze the structure of climate change knowledge in Iran and to compare it with that of leading global cities, with the aim of identifying prevailing patterns, discursive gaps, and neglected priorities. This research adopted a mixed-methods approach, integrating quantitative and qualitative analyses, and was grounded in the theoretical framework of Socio-Ecological Systems (SES). The study corpus comprised scientific articles and policy documents published between January 2010 and January 2026. The data were examined through directed qualitative content analysis and text-based scientometric analysis, based on the relative frequencies of codes and their comparison across the national and global corpora. The findings indicate that Iran’s scientific discourse remains constrained within a reactive and mono-dimensional paradigm, with principal emphasis placed on water management (46%) and hazard management (52.2%). In contrast, the global literature foregrounds compound risks, urban form design (27.2%), and climate justice. The most critical gap in the Iranian context is the near absence of climate finance (0.4%), accompanied by significant weakness in urban governance, whereas leading global cities have activated innovative financial channels through international frameworks and transnational urban networks. A transition toward urban climate resilience in Iran therefore requires a paradigmatic shift from reactive hazard management to preventive, systemic governance. Strategic recommendations include moving from gray/hard engineering approaches toward ecosystem-based Nature-based Solutions (NbS), institutionalizing decentralized climate finance, and integrating the water-energy-food nexus into urban policymaking.