Cities are major sources of greenhouse gas emissions but also suitable places for implementing proactive climate mitigation and adaptation strategies. Based on the interdisciplinary review of literature, we categorize the current discussion about urban climate mitigation and adaptation planning, policy and practices into four perspectives - sustainability science, global change science, multilevel governance, and structural engineering. While these four schools of thought have distinct perspectives rooted in different disciplinary lenses, our synthesis of the literature identifies several universal themes that are common to all of the perspectives in the context of combating threats posed by climate change. The Portland case study illustrates that a city can make changes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase adaptive capacity to climate change impacts by implementing smart growth, devising local climate action plans that target emission reductions in various sectors, recognizing the interactions and influences of multiple scales of governance, and supporting the installation of various green infrastructures that contribute to green economy. Furthermore, a university can serve as a hub in this climate mitigation and adaptation arena by connecting various levels of community organizations in both public and private sectors, creating innovative research centers and spatially explicit green infrastructure, designing impact assessments and campus carbon inventories, and engaging students and the larger community through service learning.