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Interplays of Sustainability, Resilience, Adaptation and Transformation

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Handbook of Sustainability and Social Science Research

Part of the book series: World Sustainability Series ((WSUSE))

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the complex interplays between and among sustainability, resilience, adaptation and transformation, key paradigms and analytical concepts that have emerged from the human-environmental interactions, social-ecological systems, and global environmental change literatures. Specifically, this chapter provides a summary of how these key paradigms and analytical concepts have evolved over time and synthesizes current debates about their interplays. Our findings reveal certain theoretical synergies between and among sustainability, resilience, adaptation and transformation, as well as epistemological tensions and practical tradeoffs when actions are taken to promote ostensibly desirable attributes of social-ecological systems through on-the-ground actions. These findings highlight the need for scholars, practitioners and policy makers to be explicit about the normative assumptions associated with sustainability, resilience, adaptation and transformation as they complement or contradict each other in local contexts, and how they may affect or be affected by the characteristics of and processes within local communities. Such understanding will be crucial for moving towards developing adaptation or transformation interventions that maximize the achievement of sustainability or resilience policy goals and minimize potential negative outcomes on both human well-being and environmental conditions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, Purdue University, 700 W. State Street, Suite 219, West Lafayette, Indiana, 47907-2059, USA

    Jennifer L. Johnson, Laura Zanotti & Alison Kirkham

  2. Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University, 195 Marsteller Street, West Lafayette, Indiana, 47907-2033, USA

    Zhao Ma

  3. Lyles School of Civil Engineering, Purdue University, 550 Stadium Mall Drive, West Lafayette, Indiana, 47907-2051, USA

    David J. Yu

  4. School of Industrial Engineering, Purdue University, 315 N. Grant Street, West Lafayette, Indiana, 47907-2023, USA

    David R. Johnson

  5. Courtney Carothers: College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 1007 W. 3rd Avenue, Suite 100, Anchorage, Alaska, 99508-1936, USA

    Courtney Carothers

Authors
  1. Jennifer L. Johnson
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  2. Laura Zanotti
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  3. Zhao Ma
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  4. David J. Yu
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  5. David R. Johnson
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  6. Alison Kirkham
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  7. Courtney Carothers
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhao Ma .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Life Sciences, HAW Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

    Robert W. Marans

  3. Graham Sustainability Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

    John Callewaert

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Johnson, J.L. et al. (2018). Interplays of Sustainability, Resilience, Adaptation and Transformation. In: Leal Filho, W., Marans, R., Callewaert, J. (eds) Handbook of Sustainability and Social Science Research. World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67122-2_1

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