Resilientsuse

Resilientsuse is a term used in sustainability science and resilience studies to describe a framework for ensuring the continued operation of systems under stress while promoting efficient, long‑term use of resources. It encompasses ecological, social-ecological, and technological contexts, focusing on maintaining essential functions even as conditions change.

The term blends resilience theory with the idea of sustainable use. It emerged in scholarly discussions of how communities, networks, and infrastructures absorb shocks, adapt to changing conditions, and avoid irreversible depletion of natural or social capital. It situates resilience within the goal of sustainable resource management.

Key concepts include redundancy and modularity to prevent single points of failure, diversity and adaptive capacity, participatory governance, and lifecycle thinking that links production, consumption, and disposal. Resilientsuse emphasizes maintaining critical services at acceptable levels while reducing resource throughput and environmental impacts. It also stresses learning and iterative planning to adjust strategies as conditions evolve.

Practices associated with resilientsuse appear in urban resilience planning, disaster risk management, supply-chain design, water and energy systems, and digital platforms that must remain accessible during crises. It also informs policy evaluation by comparing system performance across scenarios of disruption and by examining trade‑offs between resilience, efficiency, and equity.

Measurement relies on indicators of resilience capacity, recovery time, resource efficiency, and ecological footprint, often using scenario analysis and governance assessments. Critics caution that the term can be vague or context dependent and may obscure trade‑offs between resilience and efficiency.

See also: resilience, sustainability, adaptive management, circular economy.