The governance of urban processes, in the face of the effects of variability and extremes of climate change, determines the complex approach to address them – especially because of their inherent uncertainty and the high infrastructure cost that their solving entails. The urgency of the responses and actions imposed by extreme weather events transfers additional complexity to less developed societies, given the drift towards sectoral responses and the structural lack of financing at the municipal level. This article proposes a two-pronged approach, linking climate adaptation processes and strategies to local development. This double effect would facilitate the process of adaptation to climate change through the active integration of a wider range of actors in local development, integrating agendas and actions of greater complexity, ensuring a long-term perspective of evolutionary change. The article is defined from a theoretical framework with a transdisciplinary perspective to validate the link between climate change strategies and local development. It is presented through a case study, establishing a framework for possible interventions with integrated objectives, in order to determine policy recommendations and local development strategies within the characteristics and conditions recognised in the case study, and pays special attention to the high level of informal settlements in abandoned areas and the limited economic capacity of the municipality to cope with their needs.