Resilience and Complex Adaptive Systems

Abstract

Social–ecological resilience describes the ability of complex adaptive systems to negotiate and respond creatively to change. Its origins combine understanding of the structure and dynamics of ecological systems with findings from anthropology—particularly human ecology and indigenous knowledge—and other social sciences. Key concepts are the adaptive cycle , a four‐stage pattern of change common to many complex adaptive systems, and panarchy , the way that adaptive cycles interact across spatial and temporal scales. The newer concept of community resilience integrates social–ecological resilience with insights from previously unrelated concepts of resilience in developmental psychology, disaster response, and community development and has been operationalized in a range of practical fields. In response to rhetorical use of vernacular concepts of resilience to justify conservative agendas in mainstream political discourse, overt politicization of resilience science is becoming increasingly common.