Abstract:
We review the past decade’s widespread application of resilience science in sustainable development practice and examine whether and how resilience is reshaping this practice to better engage in complex contexts. We analyse six shifts in practice: from capitals to capacities, from objects to relations, from outcomes to processes, from closed to open systems, from generic interventions to context sensitivity, and from linear to complex causality. Innovative complexity-oriented practices have emerged, but dominant applications diverge substantially from the science, including its theoretical and methodological orientations. We highlight aspects of the six shifts that are proving challenging in practice and what is required from sustainability science.
Description:
Figure 1: A graphical representation of the social-ecological systems (SES) school of resilience:
a complex adaptive systems based perspective on the intertwined, multilevel and dynamic SES
processes, interdependencies and relationships that shape resilience (Graphic by Jive Media
Africa).
Figure 2: Six interconnected and intertwined shifts move sustainable development away from
commonly used linear approaches towards innovative approaches able to account for complex
SES dynamics. We review the contributions and constraints of SES resilience science and its
use in sustainable development to make progress across these shifts. See text and Table 1 for
more details on the shifts (Graphic by Jive Media Africa).
