Drastic growth of urban populations has caused expansion of peri-urban areas—the transitional zone between a city and its hinterland. Although urbanisation may bring economic opportunities and improve infrastructure in an area, uncontrolled urban expansion towards peri-urban areas will negatively impact the environment and the community living within the area. Malaysia, for example, has become one of the most urbanised countries in East Asia. However, cities in Malaysia are relatively small and less densely populated compared with other cities in East Asia.

Street trees, native plantings, bioswales, and other forms of green infrastructure alleviate urban air and water pollution, diminish flooding vulnerability, support pollinators, and provide other benefits critical to human well-being. Urban planners increasingly value such urban ecosystem services (ES), and effective methods for deciding among alternative planting regimes using urban ES criteria are under active development.

Poland, like other countries in the world, increasingly experiences the ongoing climate change. However, the level of preparation of the country and its society for climate change in the second decade of the 21st century can be evaluated as low. The Municipal Adaptation Plans (MAPs) created in 2017–2019 became a subject of research studies whose main goal was to determine the typology of adaptation actions to be undertaken as part of MAPs in the 14 selected Polish cities in various geographical regions.