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Cities throughout the world face the challenge of preparing for climate change impacts. Since urban climate adaptation is an emerging policy domain, however, few institutions exist to guide cities among the first to take action. Drawing on institutional theory and case study research, this article examines the initiation and development of adaptation planning in two cities in the global south: Durban and Quito. The cases suggest that action in nascent policy domains is motivated by endogenous factors and sustained by taking advantage of opportunities rising and creatively linking new agendas to existing goals, plans, and programs.