Resilience of urban social-ecological-technological systems (SETS): A review

Abstract

Resilience is a widely debated concept that encompasses various interpretations. Recently, in science and policy circles, there has been a growing interest in the concept of Social-Ecological-Technological Systems (SETS) resilience which offers a new interpretation. While this concept is now used frequently, it is not properly understood and there is still a lack of clarity on what it means and its underpinning principles. This lack of clarity and understanding may confuse and even disorient researchers and policy makers. To address this issue, we review the literature published in the context of urban systems. The reviewed literature is mainly focused on nature-based solutions, indicating more contributions from the ecological field. Also, flooding, extreme heat, and drought are major stressors discussed in the literature. We elaborate on the definition of SETS resilience and discuss that its dominant principles are adaptability, transformability, flexibility, redundancy, equity, diversity, foresight capacity, connectivity, robustness, multi-functionality, learning, and non-linearity. We also expound upon the key components of SETS, how they are intertwined, and potential trade-offs that may emerge between them. Our study demonstrates that the implementation of the SETS approach leads to numerous ancillary benefits. If multi-level and polycentric governance strategies are adopted, it can also help avoid trade-offs that may emerge between social, ecological, and technological dimensions. We conclude by emphasizing that the literature is dominated by epistemological approaches and more empirical research is needed to understand better the complex dynamics of SETS resilience.