Vulnerability and Resilience

The terms vulnerability and resilience have been the subject of scientific and political discourse for several years. This reflects a growing awareness in the realms of research and politics that potential vulnerabilities and risks must be recognized in a timely manner and that appropriate measures to avoid or contain them must be developed. This task is considered a central challenge of modern ‘risk society’ (Beck, 1986). Today, research on aspects of vulnerability and resilience is being conducted in various fields. Sometimes one or both terms are used explicitly, but in other cases the relevant topics are discussed implicitly without using them. For this reason, it is necessary to elucidate the understanding of vulnerability and resilience in each disciplinary context. Due to the complexity and multidimensional nature of vulnerability and resilience, research on the subject doubtless requires interdisciplinary approaches (Tanner, 2006, p. 121). By analogy, dealing with vulnerabilities and developing resilience requires intersectoral political action in terms of a ‘governance of preparedness’ (Medd & Marvin, 2005). Linking the terms vulnerability and resilience offers great potential for spatial research from a social science perspective. Research on vulnerability and resilience in a spatial context takes into account the dimensions of risk analysis (vulnerability) as well as sustainability (resilience). In a first step, it separates the dimensions analytically; then it relates them to one another, taking spatial particularities and disparities into consideration. Against this background, the purpose of this contribution is two-fold: It seeks to present in a heuristic perspective which potential for gaining insights lies in the linked concepts of vulnerability and resilience themselves from a social science point of view. It also seeks to explain in a heuristic perspective which potential for gaining insights can be discerned if the two concepts, vulnerability and resilience, are applied to research questions in social science-based spatial research. In addition, this contribution aims to present a research project currently under way at the Leibniz Institute for Regional Development and Structural Planning (IRS) and scheduled for completion in late 2012. Its goal is to elaborate insights from a social science perspective about: Vulnerability and Resilience: A Topic for Spatial Research from a Social Science Perspective