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Survival of the fittest...more like survival of the resilient!
Topic: Resilience
by Tiffany, 2021 Cohort
What is resilience?#
Resilience is understood as ‘the ability of a system to overcome obstacles, undertake adaptive change while still maintaining predominantly the same function, structure and identity.’ Resilience is one of the key tools that allow systems to achieve sustainability and persevere through complexities.
What are the main characteristics of resilient systems?#
Identifying characteristics of resilience is itself complex. There is a broad range of characteristics associated with resilience across a wide range of different disciplines. However, for the purpose of this primer, we will focus on the three main characteristics of resilience, as follows:
- Adaption capacity: Kerner & Thomas identify adaption capacity as a systems ability to restructure itself as a means to handle obstacles without losing functional capacity and system identity. Climate change, for example, has posed great challenges to the ecosystem. As a means to adapt to these conditions, birds for example have started migrating at different times of the year.
- Knowledge enhancement: Systems build up knowledge with each challenge they’ve overcome, this enriches their ability to solve problems and better face future hardship. The human body for example uses memory cells to store information after successfully combating a disease, strengthening its immune system.
- Interconnectivity: The effective interactions between components of a resilient system can increase higher efficiency as a whole. Following a natural disaster, a community binds together to rebuild and restore itself.
The positive and negative effects complexities have on resilience.
Resilience is most evident when it faces complexities and challenges. Effective adaption capacity, knowledge enhancement and interconnectivity can enable systems to become more sustainable and overcome complexities. If a system lacks resilience, then it is left at the mercy of those complexities, which can either increase or decrease resilience.
On the one hand, it can enhance a system’s ability to respond to complexities and challenges by adding to our resilience tools. As mentioned above, each hardship overcome by a system means it gains information that it can store for future challenges, therefore making it more resourceful and sustainable. Furthermore, complexities can help identify gaps within a system, which it can improve upon and strengthen itself. Dave Pollard, uses the example of biodiversity to illustrate how when a system grows and becomes more complex, it becomes more resilient. Biodiversity becomes more resilient and is less at risk to pandemics as it grows.
On the other hand, complexities can pose challenges that may be too difficult or advanced for a system. Pollard uses the example of ‘manufactured systems’ which dissolve when an aspect fails to operate at the same capacity as the system as a whole. He uses oil demands as an example, which when not met, systems fail to operate at full capacity. As aforementioned, complexities bring out the resilient aspects of a system, when a system is faced with a challenging problem resilience can catalyse a system to persevere, however, if a system’s gaps or lack of effective interconnectivity are too great, complexities actually may in turn decrease resilience.
Additional Resources#
- Kerner, David A., and J. S. Thomas 2014. “Resilience Attributes of Social-Ecological Systems: Framing Metrics for Management” Resources 3, no. 4: 672-702. https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/3/4/672/htm
- Pollard, Dave. 2010. ‘Complexity: It’s not that simple.’ https://www.resilience.org/stories/2010-10-12/complexity-its-not-simple/
- University Southampton. Resilience Theory. http://www.complexity.soton.ac.uk/theory/_Resilience_Theory.php
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Disclaimer#
This content has been contributed by a student as part of a learning activity.
If there are inaccuracies, or opportunities for significant improvement on this topic, feedback is welcome on how to improve the resource.
You can improve articles on this topic as a student in "Unravelling Complexity", or by including the amendments in an email to: Chris.Browne@anu.edu.au
What is resilience?#
Resilience is understood as ‘the ability of a system to overcome obstacles, undertake adaptive change while still maintaining predominantly the same function, structure and identity.’ Resilience is one of the key tools that allow systems to achieve sustainability and persevere through complexities.
What are the main characteristics of resilient systems?#
Identifying characteristics of resilience is itself complex. There is a broad range of characteristics associated with resilience across a wide range of different disciplines. However, for the purpose of this primer, we will focus on the three main characteristics of resilience, as follows:
- Adaption capacity: Kerner & Thomas identify adaption capacity as a systems ability to restructure itself as a means to handle obstacles without losing functional capacity and system identity. Climate change, for example, has posed great challenges to the ecosystem. As a means to adapt to these conditions, birds for example have started migrating at different times of the year.
- Knowledge enhancement: Systems build up knowledge with each challenge they’ve overcome, this enriches their ability to solve problems and better face future hardship. The human body for example uses memory cells to store information after successfully combating a disease, strengthening its immune system.
- Interconnectivity: The effective interactions between components of a resilient system can increase higher efficiency as a whole. Following a natural disaster, a community binds together to rebuild and restore itself.
The positive and negative effects complexities have on resilience.
Resilience is most evident when it faces complexities and challenges. Effective adaption capacity, knowledge enhancement and interconnectivity can enable systems to become more sustainable and overcome complexities. If a system lacks resilience, then it is left at the mercy of those complexities, which can either increase or decrease resilience.
On the one hand, it can enhance a system’s ability to respond to complexities and challenges by adding to our resilience tools. As mentioned above, each hardship overcome by a system means it gains information that it can store for future challenges, therefore making it more resourceful and sustainable. Furthermore, complexities can help identify gaps within a system, which it can improve upon and strengthen itself. Dave Pollard, uses the example of biodiversity to illustrate how when a system grows and becomes more complex, it becomes more resilient. Biodiversity becomes more resilient and is less at risk to pandemics as it grows.
On the other hand, complexities can pose challenges that may be too difficult or advanced for a system. Pollard uses the example of ‘manufactured systems’ which dissolve when an aspect fails to operate at the same capacity as the system as a whole. He uses oil demands as an example, which when not met, systems fail to operate at full capacity. As aforementioned, complexities bring out the resilient aspects of a system, when a system is faced with a challenging problem resilience can catalyse a system to persevere, however, if a system’s gaps or lack of effective interconnectivity are too great, complexities actually may in turn decrease resilience.
Additional Resources#
- Kerner, David A., and J. S. Thomas 2014. “Resilience Attributes of Social-Ecological Systems: Framing Metrics for Management” Resources 3, no. 4: 672-702. https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/3/4/672/htm
- Pollard, Dave. 2010. ‘Complexity: It’s not that simple.’ https://www.resilience.org/stories/2010-10-12/complexity-its-not-simple/
- University Southampton. Resilience Theory. http://www.complexity.soton.ac.uk/theory/_Resilience_Theory.php