Introducing Spatial Resilience

Abstract

Starting a book on the spatial resilience of social-ecological systems is a somewhat daunting task for both author and reader. Social-ecological systems are complex, and complex systems are, well, complex. The word itself suggests that perhaps this discipline is already well beyond the grasp of ordinary mortals like us. ‘Resilience’ is also one of those suspicious sorts of words; it is easy to see how itmight suddenly slip away into the forest, just when you think you have grasped it, or turn around and give you a nip. Add to these conceptually difficult topics the non-trivial questions of how they influence and are influenced by spatial variation, and we have the subject matter of this book.