Chicago was just named the most climate-resilient city on the planet

Chicago has survived polar vortices, record-breaking rainstorms, tornado warnings and the occasional wildfire smoke. Apparently, all of that has been good practice: A new report just ranked Chicago as the most climate-resilient major city in the world.

The ranking comes from AlphaGeo, a Singapore-based artificial intelligence company that analyzed 72 of the world's largest cities for its Climate Risk & Resilience Index. Chicago ranked No. 1, ahead of cities including Addis Ababa, Melbourne and Barcelona.

The study examined both the extent of physical climate risk cities face and their preparedness to address it. Researchers considered hazards including inland and coastal flooding, heat stress, drought, wildfires and hurricane winds, then compared those risks with cities' ability to adapt.

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Chicago has one enormous advantage in its geography: Lake Michigan provides the city with a massive freshwater resource, while its location in a temperate climate zone means it doesn't face the same hurricane risk as some major cities. Chicago also has relatively low exposure to several other climate hazards, including wildfires.

But Chicago didn't land the top spot solely because of its favorable location. AlphaGeo also factored in the city's infrastructure and adaptation efforts. Chicago's longstanding investments in flood-control infrastructure (including the massive Tunnel and Reservoir Plan, aka the Deep Tunnel) helped bolster its resilience ranking. The city also gets points for its lakefront green space, bike infrastructure and electric-vehicle resources.

Chicagoans who spent this summer watching torrential rain overwhelm streets or dealing with extreme heat may be a little skeptical. But the report is all about how cities cope, and Chicago is apparently doing a great job at it. 

And Chicago still has plenty of work to do. The region maintains detailed flood-susceptibility maps because urban and river flooding remain very real risks, particularly as increasingly intense rainfall puts pressure on stormwater systems. Still, the report offers a useful bragging right for a city that too often seems to be an afterthought among America's big cities, as the only U.S. city to crack AlphaGeo's top 10.

Here are the 10 most climate-resilient cities in the world, according to the ranking:

1. Chicago, USA
2. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
3. Melbourne, Australia
4. Barcelona, Spain
5. Ankara, Turkey
6. Buenos Aires, Argentina
7. Paris, France
8. Istanbul, Turkey
9. Bogota, Colombia
10. Nairobi, Kenya