Resilience in urban, rural, and transitional communities: An empirical study in Guangdong, China

Abstract

Increasing resilience at the community level is important for reducing the impact of disasters, particularly given the growing number of disaster events around the globe. Prior studies have paid more attention to the resilience of rural and urban communities, while a larger number of transitional communities have not received enough attention. Based on a survey in Guangdong Province, China, the 10-Item Conjoint Community Resiliency Assessment Measurement (CCRAM-10) was employed to assess the perceived community resilience of seven community types in urban, rural, and transitional communities. Multiple linear regression was also conducted, to measure the influence of community types. The results show that transitional communities have the lowest level of resilience, while urban communities have the highest. Although differences in resilience exist among different community types, they all show a high level of collective efficacy. Urban and rural communities are strong predictors of community resilience, as are the following sociodemographic categories: being male, younger, married, more highly educated, and not religious. However, differences are found in the specific dimensions. The study also provides recommendations on how physical and social infrastructure could be used to promote community resilience.