Principles For Building Resilience

Reflecting the very latest research, this book provides an in-depth review of the role of resilience in the management of social-ecological systems and the ecosystem services they provide. Leaders in the field outline seven principles for building resilience in social-ecological systems, examining how these can be applied to advance sustainability.

Increasingly, cracks are appearing in the capacity of communities, ecosystems, and landscapes to provide the goods and services that sustain our planet's well-being. The response from most quarters has been for "more of the same" that created the situation in the first place: more control, more intensification, and greater efficiency. "Resilience thinking" offers a different way of understanding the world and a new approach to managing resources. It embraces human and natural systems as complex entities continually adapting through cycles of change, and seeks to understand the qualities of a system that must be maintained or enhanced in order to achieve sustainability. It explains why greater efficiency by itself cannot solve resource problems and offers a constructive alternative that opens up options rather than closing them down. In Resilience Thinking, scientist Brian Walker and science writer David Salt present an accessible introduction to the emerging paradigm of resilience. The book arose out of appeals from colleagues in science and industry for a plainly written account of what resilience is all about and how a resilience approach differs from current practices. Rather than complicated theory, the book offers a conceptual overview along with five case studies of resilience thinking in the real world. It is an engaging and important work for anyone interested in managing risk in a complex world.

This handbook is a resource for enhancing disaster resilience in urban areas. It summarizes the guiding principles, tools, and practices in key economic sectors that can facilitate incorporation of resilience concepts into decisions about infrastructure investments and urban management that are integral to reducing disaster and climate risks.

In a world increasingly faced with, and divided by, regional and global crises, resilience has emerged as a key concept with significant relevance for tourism. A paradigmatic shift is taking place in the long-term planning of tourism development, in which the prevailing focus on sustainability is being enhanced with the practical application of resilience planning. This book provides a critical appraisal of sustainability and resilience, and the relationship between the two. Contributions highlight the complexity of addressing social change with resilience planning in a range of tourism contexts, from islands to mountains, from urban to remote environments, and in a range of international settings. Case studies articulate how tourism is both an agent of social change and a victim of larger change processes, and provide important lessons on how to deal with increasingly unstable economic, social and environmental systems. This is the first book to specifically examine social change and sustainability in tourism through a resilience lens. This much-needed contribution to the literature will be a key resource for those working in tourism studies, tourism planning and management, social geography, and development studies, among others.

The ability to be resilient--to pick oneself up after setbacks and keep on going no matter the challenges--is critical not only to successful leadership but also to fostering teams, generating collaboration, and igniting the organization. In this book, the authors show that Appreciative Inquiry canbe an invaluable tool to build that resilience.

Packed with research, insights, and illuminating (and often funny) examples from Paris’s own divorce experience, this book is a “practical and reassuring guide to parting well.” —Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project Engaging and revolutionary, filled with wit, searing honesty, and intimate interviews, Splitopia is a call for a saner, more civil kind of divorce. As Paris reveals, divorce has improved dramatically in recent decades due to changes in laws and family structures, advances in psychology and child development, and a new understanding of the importance of the father. Positive psychology expert and author of Happier, Tal Ben-Shahar, writes that Paris’s “personal insights, stories, and research” create “a smart and interesting guide that can be extremely helpful for those going through divorce.” Reading this book can be the difference between an expensive, ugly battle and a decent divorce, between children sucked under by conflict or happy, healthy kids. This is “a compelling case that it’s high time for a new definition of Happily Ever After—for everyone” (Brigid Schulte, author of Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time).

Resilience is a much-talked-about topic these days. The view that resilience is an important aspect of mental well-being has been gaining attention among health professionals and researchers. Tatyana Barankin and Nazilla Khanlou draw from the latest research and theoretical developments on resilience in children and youth and present it in a way that is relevant for a diverse audience, including parents, educators, health care providers, daycare workers, coaches, social service providers, policy makers and others. Among the unique contributions of this book is that the authors consider the development of resilience at three levels. Growing Up Resilient explores the individual, family and environmental risk and protective factors that affect young people's resilience: individual factors: temperament, learning strengths, feelings and emotions, self-concept, ways of thinking, adaptive skills, social skills and physical health family factors: attachment, communication, family structure, parent relations, parenting style, sibling relations, parents' health and support outside the family environmental factors: inclusion (gender, culture), social conditions (socio-economic situation, media influences), access (education, health) and involvement. Tips on how to build resilience in children and youth follow each section. The ability for children and youth to bounce back from today's stresses is one of the best life skills they can develop. Growing Up Resilient is a must-read for adults who want to increase resilience in the children and youth in their lives.