Resilience: A Pipe Dream or a Viable Mechanism for Addressing Adaptation to Climate Change in Urban Regions
Sonja Deppisch, Klaus Eisenack, Cathy Wilkinson, Sanin Hasibovic
Title:Resilience: A Pipe Dream or a Viable Mechanism for Addressing Adaptation to Climate Change in Urban Regions
Moderator: Sanin Hasibovic
Panelists: Sonja Deppisch, Klaus Eisenack, Cathy Wilkinson
Session Description:
Urban regions present a particularly complex example of social-ecological systems. Characte-rized by multiple feedback loops between human and ecosystem processes, enormous impacts on ecosystems vastly exceeding their resource base and spatial extent, complex social interactions etc., cities pose particular challenges to adaptation efforts. Hence, addressing adaptation to climate change in urban settings requires a systemic-integrative perspective which ac-knowledges the need for transdisciplinarity and the complexity of 1) urban regions as social-ecological systems, 2) the hybrid (social-ecological) and uncertainty ridden nature of climate change, and 3) the transfer of knowledge along existing social networks (including the science-practice interface) aimed at sustaining adaptation and adaptive management.
In our opinion, the concept of social-ecological resilience has potential to tackle the issue of transdisciplinarity and complexity at all three levels mentioned above. On the one hand, it can be used as an analytical framework for understanding the dynamics of urban social-ecological systems in light of climate change impacts. On the other hand, due to its inherent involvement with change and uncertainty it may also serve as a guiding principle for the development of adaptation strategies to climate change. Yet, making the analytically heavy resilience concept accessible for practitioners involved in planning under change and uncertainty has repeatedly proved very difficult. In light of serious weaknesses associated with (early) adaptation efforts (uncertainty of climate change impacts, the risk of maladaptation, the difference of adaptivity and actual adaption etc.), it is important to operationalize the concept of resilience in the way that may offer if not tangible tools to practitioners and decision-makers, then at least provide guidelines that can be streamlined into practical work. Because without a consequent search for new approaches to operationalization of social-ecological resilience this analytically strong concept risks becoming another prisoner of the ivory tower.
Our panel will discuss exactly this challenge: How to bridge the gap between 1) social-ecological resilience as an analytical framework and 2) resilience as a guiding principle for adaptation strategies, without compromising the complexity inherent to climate change adap-tation in urban social-ecological systems?
The panel addresses scholars involved in transdisciplinary climate change adaptation research.
Panel format:
Rather than traditional conference formats of pre-prepared presentations, we will pilot a fully discursive, interactive approach called “market stalls of knowledge” in order to stimulate de-bate in this area and to develop current thinking within the research community.
At the very beginning, the moderator will provide a brief introduction to the theme and the format of the panel of no more than 5 minutes. Then, we will establish three “market stalls of knowledge”, one for each panelist. The members of the audience are asked to decide which of the three market stalls they want to participate in. All market stalls take place in parallel. Then we will allow each of three panelists 10 minutes for a statement of their position during which only clarification questions are accepted. After all panelists have spoken there is an open dis-cussion period at each market stall (approx. 20 min.). A discussant should be determined who will present the results of the debate in the plenary discussion (approx. 5 minutes per presen-tation). After all presenters have spoken there is an open discussion period (40 min.). The results of the open plenary discussion should be visualized by using moderation techniques.
Panel participants and papers:
Stephan Barthel – “Practical work with resilience principles in urban development,
Albano Resilient Campus”
Klaus Eisenack, Rebecca Stecker – “An Action Theory of Adaptation to Climate Change”
Sonja Deppisch – “Pathways to Operationalization? – Urban resilience meandering between the role of a framework for analysis and a potential guiding principle”