Community Resilience A Systems Perspective

or:

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Accept

Change

…and an Afterword

M. J. Plodinec8 April, 2014

New Spectrum of Change

• Physical• Natural disasters• Terror• Accidents

• Economic• After-effects of Great Recession• Globalization• Spreading prosperity

• Health• Potential for new animal and plant diseases, and pandemics• Likelihood that medical advances will extend life spans

A community is…

…an eco-system

Individuals and organizations

bound together by geography

andself-interest

to efficiently provide common services, and…

a system of systems!

Communities’ central role

Resilience

Positive adaptation to change

or:

When life rips up your pineapple plant, you make Singapore Slings

(But that means you better have your shaker ready!)

Disasters Have Directions

Social Capital is…

Vulnerability

Connections and Recovery

Fostering Community Resilience

• Focus on building strengths• Leadership• Connections• Resources• Plans

• Keep communities informed; have them keep you informed

• Recognize the differences among and within communities• Culture• Connections• Systems

Importance of Community Leadership

There are rhythms in recovery;be patient

Natural Environment

Built Environment

Community Institutions

Individuals and Families

Economic Institutions

Celebrations of small successes are essential for greater ones!

An Afterword:

Security is mostly a superstitionIt does not exist in nature Nor do the children of menAs a whole experience it.

Avoiding danger is no saferIn the long run than outright exposure.

Life is either a daring adventureOr it is nothing.

To keep our faces toward change andBehave like free spirits

In the presence of fate is strength undefeatable.

– Helen Keller

Cultivate Humility, Accept Change,Recognize the Systems that Surround Us