The capitals of Europe are vulnerable. Vulnerable to floods and heat, but also to supplies of food, drinking water, electricity.... For solutions, they can sometimes learn little, and sometimes a great deal from each other. That depends in part on their genesis. The new book The rooted city makes clear how city and landscape are connected, and what opportunities and problems this creates against the background of major tasks for the future, such as climate change, food supply and energy transition. Not every city is the same in this respect. The rooted city shows that there are similarities and differences in the way European capitals are rooted in their landscape. There are roughly four types: the ancient trading cities along the rocky coasts, the true delta cities, the cities of the plains and the mountain cities. Thus, based on geomorphology, many analogies can be drawn in the development of European cities, in the problems they face now or in the future, and in opportunities for further development. In doing so, the balance between the physical environment and the state of technology is always essential. Using the ideas from The Rooted City, it is easy to identify the possibilities and opportunities in a city and the problems it faces. Berlin, Warsaw, Madrid and Brussels have much in common as collections of villages grown together at fordable places in vast, flat agricultural areas. Amsterdam is especially similar to (noncapitals like) Hamburg and Antwerp. Luxembourg has traits of Bratislava and Tirana. Copenhagen has similar developments to Lisbon. Such a perspective can help determine strategic lines of development for a city's future.