Resilience is an essential and highly desired characteristic of a social-ecological system’s ability to adapt and adjust to various stresses and shocks that cause disruption. As social and ecological systems are intertwined and continually experiencing changes and disturbances, a major challenge appears revolving around the ways in which this resilience can be built and investigated. Social-ecological resilience can be defined as the amount of stress or disturbance that a particular system can tolerate, while still maintaining the same functions and identity. This paper uses social-ecological resilience concepts as a research framework, and examines three main themes that allow for the building of water management resilience to occur. These themes include learning to live with change, nurturing the ability to adapt/adjust to changes, and also on creating opportunities for self-organization. Two ethnic minority villages in Northern Thailand were chosen as research sites, in which the village water management practices were studied within a specific time period. Varying degrees of quantity and quality water issues within both villages have brought about stress and disturbances within their water management practices and increased the need to deal with these problems. Research was conducted at a community scale and resilience analysis pertains only to this specific level. Through the utilization of focus groups and interviews, qualitative data was collected and analyzed within a SE resilience context. This paper sets out to explore how social-ecological resilience has been built or not, and to what degree this has occurred within these two villages water management practices. The analysis indicates how complex and interconnected the social and ecological systems are and how the water management practices of these two communities play a role in this complex, dynamic process. Conclusions drawn are not limited to these two communities, but can be applied to the wider Northern Thailand region.

Ecosystems in the modern world face a vast array of disturbances, from globally shifting abiotic conditions, to increasingly variable extreme natural events, to high intensity discrete human-caused disturbances. Well-developed, applicable theoretical frameworks on how ecosystems can respond to and withstand these disturbances are needed for adequate management of valued ecological systems. To date, the most promising theoretical development for understanding ecological response to complex sets of disturbances is resilience. Ecological resilience acknowledges non-linear ecosystem behavior, incorporates the role of slowly changing environmental parameters in ecological dynamics, and offers one of the few potential methods to predict, and avoid, impending ecological collapse. However, as ecological resilience has evolved conceptually to include social, political, and economic fields, it has become increasingly difficult to clearly define in, and apply to, managed ecosystems. This dissertation pairs ecological resilience with other, well-established attributes of ecological response to disturbance, namely resistance, persistence, and recovery. By doing so, we can clearly define and quantify each attribute in a range of ecosystem types and over a variety of ecological scales. In Chapter 1, we use microcosm communities to test the relationship between one potential mechanism, landscape connectivity, and multiple attributes of ecological response to disturbance including resistance, resilience, and recovery. We find that each attribute responds uniquely to connectivity, and that generalizing the role of connectivity over all three may give an inaccurate prediction of how ecosystems may respond to individual disturbances. In Chapter 2, we experimentally investigate the presence of early warning indicators of approaching critical thresholds. Using water table drawdown treatments in bog, we test for critical slowing and increased autocorrelation as the bog approaches a transition to forest. We find that critical slowing is clear in composition and moss cover, but that autocorrelation is not apparent. The decoupling of critical slowing and increased autocorrelation could be due to a number of complex ecosystem dynamics, all of which are common in ecosystem management globally. Thus, early warning indicators likely need further development if they are to become applicable. In Chapter 3, we observationally study how conservation management actions may increase or decrease ecological resilience. In particular, we explore how invasive species management intensity correlates with changes in functional redundancy, response diversity, and spatial occurrence of regime shifts in Garry oak meadows. We find that more intense management correlates with less area lost to woody encroachment and increases in functional redundancy through time. However, the relationship was strongly mediated by individual landscape settings. Finally, in Chapter 4, we scale up to a provincial study, investigating persistence of ecosystems and large mammal species in the face of the continuous pressures of land use change. In the results from all four chapters, it is clear that individual attributes of ecological response to disturbance, i.e. resistance, persistence, resilience, or recovery, all play unique roles in ecosystem dynamics. Additionally, the metric chosen to quantify each attribute can play a pivotal role in how we interpret observed dynamics. The work in this dissertation highlights that we cannot understand or predict ecological response to disturbance without clear, measurable concepts. Around a single state of interest, resilience is only one among a suite of attributes that are important to understand. Its additional strength, of potentially predicting the occurrence of ecological thresholds, is still being developed as we explore methods of quantification and application in individual ecosystems. / Graduate

Face au constat des limites de la lutte contre les inondations, la vision de «Vivre avec» se développe. Il ne s’agit plus de rejeter l’eau mais de l’accepter sur le territoire et de s’y adapter. Cette approche stratégique ouvre la voie vers une vision positive du risque d’inondation qui permet d’envisager des opportunités liées aux inondations.Dans ce contexte du «Vivre avec», ce travail de thèse vise à théoriser et valoriser l’approche émergente que représente la démarche par l’opportunité pour la conception de villes éco-résilientes aux inondations. Ainsi, cette thèse examine en quoi :1. le concept d’opportunité constitue une démarche dans le cadre théorique des villes éco-résilientes aux inondations ;2. la démarche par l’opportunité constitue une méthode de conception et présente des avantages, une pertinence et un potentiel pour la conception de villes éco-résilientes aux inondations, notamment au vu de la gestion du risque plus courante.La recherche mise en œuvre a pour objet de formaliser la méthode de conception par l’opportunité au travers d’une représentation – une grille d’observation – afin d’en faciliter l’utilisation et la promotion. Pour communiquer mais surtout exploiter les résultats sur la méthode, une grille d’observation des stratégies associées à des projets urbains et paysagers pour la conception par l’opportunité est investiguée. Ce support tout particulièrement destiné aux concepteurs architecturaux, urbains et paysagers, est élaboré selon le principe d’une représentation sémantique. La cartographie sémantique correspond à l’outil méthodologique utilisé dans cette recherche. Elle permet d’explorer et de mettre en relation les multiples informations établies tout en les organisant pour une meilleure compréhension de leur complexité. Ainsi, la grille d’observation vient cartographier la méthode établie et constituer un support d’aide à la conception par l’opportunité.Les résultats obtenus de ce travail démontrent premièrement que d’une part, la démarche par l’opportunité présente un potentiel de conception face à la complexité des territoires inondables en milieu urbain. En agissant sur des notions diversifiées et proactives elle apparaît comme pertinente dans la balance entre phénomènes naturels et activités humaines. D’autre part, les démarches par le risque et par l’opportunité sont deux approches différentes mais complémentaires. Il ressort du travail cartographique que la conception de villes éco-résilientes aux inondations s’appuie sur un équilibre entre risque et opportunité.Ces résultats démontrent deuxièmement que la conception par l’opportunité correspond à une logique qui induit des cycles vertueux entre des caractéristiques paysagères (sols, végétations, etc.) et des flux fondamentaux (eau, énergie, déchets, nutriments, etc.) pour la production de bénéfices socio-éco-environnementaux. Elle a pour socle d’action de reconnecter les villes avec leur territoire en articulant et exploitant de manière multifonctionnelle, interdisciplinaire et pluritemporelle les synergies entre les éléments physiques du territoire urbain. Elle est particulièrement pertinente en ce qu’elle formule une nouvelle relation équilibrée pour le couple humain/systèmes hydro-écologiques et présente le potentiel d’un horizon sociétal innovant.En conclusion et synthèse, il est tout d’abord à retenir que la cartographie sémantique constitue un outil de recherche pertinent en ce qu’elle facilite le traitement et l’analyse de données complexes. Ensuite, la méthode théorisée, tout comme la grille d’observation élaborée, induit une évolution des pratiques de conception liées aux inondations. Enfin, cette thèse définit une base de travail théorique et pratique affinée, qui vient questionner le paradigme de la gestion du risque pour approfondir la recherche sur les villes éco-résilientes aux inondations et le «Vivre avec». / In recognition of the limits of the possibilities of combating floods, a vision of “Living With” floods is developing. The aim is no longer to resist water, but to allow it into the territory and adapt. This strategic approach opens the way to a positive vision of flood risk, in which the opportunities associated with floods can be envisaged.In this context of “Living With”, this piece of research seeks to theorise and promote the emerging method of opportunity-based design as applied to flood eco-resilient cities. This thesis therefore examines how:1. the concept of opportunity constitutes an approach within the theoretical framework of flood eco-resilient cities;2. the opportunity-based approach constitutes a method of design and offers advantages, relevance and potential for the design of flood eco-resilient cities, in particular by comparison with the most common method of risk management.The purpose of this thesis research is to formalise the method of opportunity-based design through a representational tool—an observation grid— in order to facilitate the use and promotion of such design. In order to communicate on —but above all to exploit the results— of the method, a grid for the observation of the strategies associated with urban and landscape projects for opportunity-based design is investigated. This instrument, in particular aimed at architectural, urban and landscape designers, is developed by means of a semantic map. Semantic mapping is the methodological solution employed in this research. It is used to explore and connect the multiple data collected, and to organise them so that their complexity can be understood. The observation grid therefore maps the method employed and constitutes a tool for implementation in opportunity-based design.On the one hand, the results obtained from this research demonstrate, first, that the opportunity-based approach offers potential for design in response to the complexity of urban flood territories. Through diversity and proactiveness, it would seem to be relevant in achieving the balance between natural phenomena and human activities. On the other hand, the risk-based and opportunity-based approaches are different but complementary. What emerges from the mapping process is that the design of flood eco-resilient cities entails a balance between risk and opportunity.Second, these results show that opportunity-based design reflects a logic that generates virtuous cycles between landscape features (soil, vegetation, etc.) and fundamental flows (water, energy, waste, nutrients, etc.) for the production of socio‑eco-environmental benefits. The basis of its action is to reconnect cities with their territories by articulating, in a multifunctional, interdisciplinary and multitemporal way, the synergies between the physical elements of urban territory. It is particularly relevant in that it formulates a new, balanced relationship between human and hydro-ecological systems and offers the potential for a new societal perspective.To sum up, the first important conclusion is that semantic mapping is an effective research tool in that it facilitates the handling and analysis of complex data. The second is that the method theorised, together with the observation grid developed, constitute a change in flood-related design practices. And finally, this thesis establishes a refined theoretical and practical starting point for challenging the risk management paradigm and pursuing further research into flood eco-resilient cities and into “Living With” floods.

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In an increasingly complex, rapidly changing world, the capacity to cope with, adapt to, and shape change is vital. This thesis investigates how natural resource management can be organized and practiced to nurture this capacity, referred to as resilience, in social-ecological systems. Based on case studies and large-N data sets from UNESCO Biosphere Reserves (BRs) and the UN Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), it analyzes actors and social processes involved in adaptive co-management on the ground. Papers I & II use Kristianstads Vattenrike BR to analyze the roles of local stewards and bridging organizations. Here, local stewards, e.g. farmers and bird watchers, provide on-site management, detailed, long-term monitoring, and local ecological knowledge, build public support for ecosystem management, and hold unique links to specialized networks. A bridging organization strengthens their initiatives. Building and drawing on multi-level networks, it gathers different types of ecological knowledge, builds moral, political, legal and financial support from institutions and organizations, and identifies windows of opportunity for projects. Paper III synthesizes the MA community-based assessments and points to the importance of bridging organizations, leadership and vision, knowledge networks, institutions nested across scales, enabling policies, and high motivation among actors for adaptive co-management. Paper IV explores learning processes catalyzed by bridging organizations in BRs. 79 of the 148 BRs analyzed bridge local and scientific knowledge in efforts to conserve biodiversity and foster sustainable development, provide learning platforms, support knowledge generation (research, monitoring and experimentation), and frame information and education to target groups. Paper V tests the effects of participation and adaptive co-management in BRs. Local participation is positively linked to local support, successful integration of conservation and development, and effectiveness in achieving developmental goals. Participation of scientists is linked to effectiveness in achieving ‘conventional’ conservation goals and policy-makers enhance the integration of conservation and development. Adaptive co-management, found in 46 BRs, is positively linked to self-evaluated effectiveness in achieving developmental goals, but not at the expense of conservation. The thesis concludes that adaptive collaboration and learning processes can nurture resilience in social-ecological systems. Such processes often need to be catalyzed, supported and protected to survive. Therefore, bridging organizations are crucial in adaptive co-management.

There is a notable overlap and co-occurrence of mental health and learning challenges among school-aged youth. Existing research highlights associations between learning disabilities (LD) and mental health problems; however, there has been little exploration of additional variables, such as familial influences, that represent multiple levels of influence (Cen & Aytac, 2016). From a developmental relational systems framework (Overton, 2015), advancing the understanding of familial influences on youth development is crucial. Using a mixed methods design, the present study examined the influences of parent depression, parenting behaviours, family functioning, and youth social and emotional competencies on symptoms of anxiety and depression among youth with LD. Addressing two hypotheses, the quantitative Study 1 aimed to identify factors associated with mediating effects on internalized distress in 14- and 15-year-old youth with LD using secondary analysis of a cross-sectional national sample of youth and their parents. Youth social and emotional competencies and parental monitoring were found to be the most significant buffering influences in reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression. The qualitative Study 2 built on the results from Study 1, to expand the quantitative findings. In Study 2, youth at the end of middle school and their parents were interviewed to gain deeper understanding about the experiences of co-occurring LD and mental health problems from a family perspective. Data analysis identified youth fatigue, youth self-efficacy, and family relationships as central themes related to the challenges youth and their families experienced. Integrating the findings of the two studies illustrated the complex psychological, social, and educational implications for youth with LD in a family context. The interplay of factors embedded in the relation between the LD and mental health problems underscores this complexity, suggesting the relation cannot be completely understood without considering the multiple levels of influences. Implications for theory, research, and practice are described with an emphasis on ecological approaches and building school-family relationships. / Graduate

Residents of informal settlements (slums) are vulnerable to various disturbances; e.g. diseases spreading and fluctuations in food prices and local access to credits. The lack of credits derives from the continuous outflow of money from communities. This study examines a financial innovation called Sarafu-credits (SC) implemented in Kenyan informal settlements by the organization Grassroots Economics (GE). SC is a community currency (CC), more particularly vouchers only used within a network of micro-businesses, which aim to complement scarcity of conventional money. In addition, GE have initiated community activities, e.g. tree planting, trash collection, food gardens and cultural events, where residents can be paid in SC to improve the community socially and environmentally. This study examines the design and practice of SC, and the activities, using mainly semi-structured interviews with SC-network-members and GE key persons, to understand how a CC can contribute to sustainable livelihood. The concepts specified and general resilience are used to understand the links between SC and the various social-ecological disturbances facing slum-dwellers. The results suggest that SC-members who are actively trading with SC are able to increase their sales, savings and access to basic goods and services thanks to SC. The results also suggest the networks and community activities are strengthening social contacts in the neighbourhood, and constitute examples of how a CC can help finance management of local environmental problems, where SC paid for community services also support local trade. The identified challenges are related to local leadership, where trust, communication and consistency of rules are lacking. In one of the networks, the confidence in the usefulness of the currency is lacking, due to these challenges. GE have experimented with different designs where one successful innovation is the ability to exchange SC to conventional money at certain occasions, which seem to strengthen the confidence in SC.

This study aims at assessing the implementation of the international tool for disaster risk management Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015. The implementation is assessed in terms of risk management at the level of vulnerable informal settlements in hazard-prone areas on the slopes of Guatemala City. The view of resilience which is used in the framework is discussed and how this relates to risk management in general. It is argued that the framework is based on an engineering resilience view. The aspect of resilience in vulnerable areas is considered, introducing a second view of resilience, the socio-ecological. A related theme that is brought into the analysis is that of power relations. The study finds that Guatemalan policy and the Guatemalan risk management system have implemented the policies of the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015. Despite this it has not benefitted the inhabitants of the informal settlements in hazard-prone areas. There are some obstacles in order to make risk management accessible to the informal settlements. There is reluctance on the municipal level to implement the national, Hyogo-influenced, risk management and to recognize and empower the communities in the informal settlements, which hinders the development of an efficient resilience. The study concludes that for an international tool for risk management to be efficient, it needs to be clearer in its definitions, and more easily applicable through implementation tools. The inherent conclusion of this is that it would be possible for an international tool like the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015 to be efficient, since there is bureaucratic power supporting it. This power could override local obstacles like political interests. Also, the study concludes that people in informal settlements are resilient to a certain extent, but need to be acknowledged, empowered and cooperated with. / El objetivo de este estudio es evaluar la implementación de la herramienta internacional para la gestión de riesgos de desastres la cual es el Marco de Acción de Hyogo 2005-2015. La implementación es evaluada en términos de gestión de riesgo al nivel de viviendas informales y vulnerables en lugares precarios en las pendientes de la Ciudad de Guatemala. Se analiza el punto de vista sobre resiliencia que es usado en el marco de acción y de qué manera este se relaciona con gestión de riesgo en general. Se argumenta que el marco de acción se basa en el punto de vista de resiliencia de ingeniería. A la vez se considera el aspecto de resiliencia en las areas de viviendas informales, introduciendo la resiliencia socio-ecológica. Un tema relacionado con el análisis son las relaciones de poder. El estudio encuentra que las políticas y que el sistema de gestión de riesgo de desastres guatemalteca han implementado las políticas del Marco de Acción de Hyogo 2005-2015. A pesar de esto el marco de acción no ha beneficiado a los habitantes de las viviendas informales en areas precarias. Hay ciertos obstáculos para que la gestión de riesgo sea accesible en las viviendas informales. Hay cierta resistencia a nivel municipal hacia implementar la gestión de riesgo nacional, influenciada por el Marco de Hyogo, y reconocer y autorizar a las comunidades en las viviendas informales, lo cual dificulta el desarrollo eficiente de resiliencia. El estudio concluye que para que una herramienta internacional de gestión de riesgo sea eficiente, necesita clarificar sus definiciones y ser más fácil de aplicar proponiendo herramientas de implementación. La conclusión inherente es que le sería posible a una herramienta internacional como el Marco de Acción de Hyogo 2005-2015 ser eficiente, ya que tiene poder burocrático apoyándolo. Este poder podría sobrepasar obstáculos locales como intereses políticos. Finalmente el estudio concluye que personas que viven en viviendas informales son resilientes hasta cierto punto, pero necesitan ser reconocidas, autorizadas y que se coopere con ellas.

Worsening climate change impacts, particularly in coastal areas, are forcing urban planners and designers to find new approaches to govern cities. Traditional government approaches are failing to equip cities with effective strategies on how to implement sustainable interventions such as green and blue infrastructure. Adaptive governance has emerged as a way of dealing with the inherent uncertainty and unpredictability of complex social-ecological systems. It is neither top-down nor bottom-up but involves innovative ways of solving problems with emphasis on collaborative decision-making. This research focuses specifically on how collaboration is undertaken in adaptive governance processes by examining The Soul of Nørrebro case study—an integrated urban design and climate adaptation project for Hans Tavsens Park and Korsgade in Copenhagen, Denmark. Through desk study and interviews, the study identifies which stakeholders are involved in collaborative decision-making processes and how stakeholders envision, implement, and contest collaborative decision-making in The Soul of Nørrebro green and blue infrastructure project. This research found that participation from a wide range of local stakeholders and citizens is an integral part of redesigning public space, as it helps create cohesive, just, and ecologically productive environments. However, trade-offs that result in political decisions that are desirable to some and not to others cannot be avoided in the end. While certain setbacks were unavoidable, others that were encountered could have perhaps been prevented through increased transdisciplinary and representative collaboration.

Med tanke på att mer än hälften av jordens befolkning numera lever i städer och trenden fortsätter stiga, blir det allt viktigare att skapa resilienta städer. Städer som är resilienta är mer motståndskraftiga och mindre känsliga mot störningar. För att rikta fokus mot kommunal planering har inriktning gjorts mot begreppet social-ekologisk resiliens. En stad som är social-ekologiskt resilient kan främja ekosystemtjänster långsiktigt i de störningar urbana miljöer kan utsättas för. Ekosystemtjänster är beroende av biologisk mångfald och för att inte göra avkall på biologisk mångfald är det viktigt att markanvändningen planeras väl. I studiens teoretiska referensram beskrivs därför sex strategier som kan användas inom kommunal planering för att främja social-ekologisk resiliens. Syftet med arbetet är att undersöka hur kommunalt planeringsarbete ser ut för social-ekologisk resiliens i dagsläget samt vilka likheter och skillnader som finns kopplat till experters utlåtanden och studiens teoretiska referensram. Målet är att redogöra för denna skillnad och hur det skiljer sig för att synliggöra vad som behöver förbättras på kommunal nivå för att främja social-ekologisk resiliens. Metoden för att ta reda på det var i form av kvalitativa intervjuer av experter samt kommunala planerare från tre av Sveriges största kommuner: Stockholm, Göteborg och Uppsala. Till de kommunala intervjuerna gjordes även en kompletterande innehållsanalys av de tre kommunernas översiktsplaner för att ge ytterligare information där den var bristande i resultatet av intervjuerna. En jämförelse gjordes sedan mellan social-ekologisk resiliens enligt experternas utlåtande, teoretiska referensramen och kommunal planering.  Resultatet visar att kunskap om begreppet social-ekologisk resiliens saknas bland de studerade kommunerna. Alla kommuners planering strävar efter att arbeta för vad Folke (2006) definierar som social-ekologisk resiliens utan att göra det medvetet. Det finns kopplingar till begreppet inom dessa kommuners planering, men används inte aktivt att sträva efter i planeringen. Däremot arbetar samtliga av kommunerna indirekt med strategier för social-ekologisk resiliens med prioritering av de kortsiktiga, rekreativa och hälsofrämjande kvaliteterna för människan. Med grund i den bristande kunskapen och den indirekta planeringen för social-ekologisk resiliens dras slutsats i att den viktigaste av strategierna är att bredda deltagandet och främja lärandet för att öka kunskap och förståelse kring varför diverse beslut tas. Tvärsektionellt arbete kan bidra till att rätt kunskap finns när motsägande intressen ställs mot varandra vid beslutsfattande. / Given that more than half of the world's population now lives in cities and the trend continues to rise, it is becoming increasingly important to create resilient cities. Cities that are resilient are more resistant and less sensitive to disturbance. In order to limit the scope of the study to municipal planning, the focus has been centered on the concept of social-ecological resilience. A city that is social-ecological resilient can promote ecosystem services in the long run in the urban environment despite the disruptions that it can be exposed to. Ecosystem services are dependent on biodiversity, and in order not to compromise biodiversity, it is important that land use is well planned. The study's theoretical framework, therefore, describes six strategies that can be used in municipal planning to promote social-ecological resilience. The purpose of the study is to investigate how the theoretical framework and the interpretations of experts differ from the municipal planning and analyze similarities and differences between them. The aim is to account for these differences in order to show what needs to be improved at the municipal level to promote socio-ecological resilience. The methods consisted of qualitative interviews with experts on the subject area and municipal planners from three of Sweden's largest municipalities: Stockholm, Gothenburg and Uppsala. A content analysis was also made on municipal plans to supplement the interviews. Finally, a comparison was made between social-ecological resilience through the experts’ points of view, the theoretical framework and municipal planning. The results show that knowledge of the concept of social-ecological resilience is lacking among the municipalities studied. The planning of all municipalities strives unconsciously to work for what Folke (2006) defines as social-ecological resilience. Although there are links to the concept within municipal planning, it is not used actively towards planning. On the other hand, all municipalities examined in the study indirectly work with strategies for social-ecological resilience, with priority given to the short-term, recreational and health-promoting qualities for humans. The study concludes that the most important of the strategies for social-ecological resilience is to broaden participation and promote learning, in order to spread more knowledge and understanding about why various decisions are made. Internal interaction between departments can also lead to the availability of right knowledge when conflicting interests are set against each other in decision-making.