From Metaphor to Practice: Operationalizing the Analysis of Resilience Using System Dynamics Modelling

This paper operationalizes an analysis of resilience for social-ecological systems using system dynamics (SD) modelling. Resilience is a versatile concept that continues to gain popularity among researchers who study ways to reduce the vulnerability of social-ecological systems to a wide range of disturbances. However, its application in the policymaking domain still remains underdeveloped because it is difficult to understand the mechanisms that might enhance resilience and to measure the impact of potential policies. This paper proposes to use SD modelling as a tool to analyse resilience using simulations to quantify system response to disturbances and a causal analysis to identify ways to influence this response. With this aim, this paper proposes a set of fundamental characteristics of resilient responses and describes how to measure them using the results produced by SD models. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.