Core Concepts P3

• What is resilience?

  The capacity of a system to experience shocks while retaining essentially the same function, structure, feedbacks and identity
• What is equilibrium?

  Systems can be considered to be in equilibrium when the input of mass and/or energy is balanced by self-adjustment of the elements and variables of a system e.g by change of form or geometry
• What is systems?

  Systems thinking is the process of understanding how those things (parts) which may be regarded as systems influence one another within a complete entity or larger system (boundary)
• What is identity?

  The ways in which people connect to various places, and the effects of such bonds in identity development, place-making, perception and practice. It is to do with belonging, meaning and attachment at a very personalised level
• What is mitigation?

  Procedures, options and policies to reduce loss of life, infrastructure and property damage by lessening the spatial/temporal impact of disasters
• What is adaptation?

  Adaptation seeks to lower risks posed by consequences by using different technologies, processes, policies etc to 'live with it'

  Adaptive capacity is highly variable and often linked to economic resources and nature of existing physical constraints
• What is risk?

  Probability that exposure to a hazard will lead to a negative consequence, or more simply:

  risk = hazard x vulnerability / context
• What is globalisation?

  The process by which national and regional economies, societies and cultures have become integrated through global network of trade, communication, immigration and transportation
• What is threshold?

  When a relatively small stimulus within a system suddenly induces a rapid change or alteration of that system

  Thresholds in systems are generally (critical) tipping points, after which the system shifts radically and potentially irreversibly into a different equilibrium state
• What is sustainability?

  Something that can be sustained over a period of time. Influential 1987 Bruntland Report defines sustainable development as meeting needs of present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs
• What is interdependence?

  Recognition that our world is not in reality composed of nation states operating in an international system, with a clear cut distinction between the domestic political life of states and the international arena

  Recognising that global governance is struggling to keep up with the pace and extent of economic globalisation, capital and trade flows, illegal and legal migration of people and technological change
• What is inequality?

  When people, nations and non-state actors (ranging from TNCs to international agencies) have different levels of authority, competence and outcomes

  Some actors and interests are more dominant than others which can manifest itself in at least 2 ways - imaginatively and materially. Materially is the easiest way to see inequality
• What is causality?

  Relationship between cause and effect

  Recognising that a variety of processes result in change; they have impacts, which in turn have consequences
• What is feedback?

  Occurs when one element of a system changes due to an outside influence which upsets the dynamic equilibrium, or state of balance, and affect other components in the system

  Feedback can be either positive or negative
• What is representation?

  Cultural practices by which human societies interpret and portray the world around them and present themselves to others
• What is vulnerability?

  Risk of exposure to hazards combined with an inability to cope with them