Regional economic resilience: towards a system approach

Figures & data

Figure 1. Four dimensions of regional economic resilience.

Source: Martin and Sunley (2015, p. 13).

Table 1. Eight broad categories of shocks.

Types of shocks	Description	Example
Economic	Disrupts the supply chain by reducing demand	2008 Financial Crisis, 2020 Economic Crisis
Institutional	Institutional change that changes the economic landscape	Brexit, COVID-19 policies, North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
Organizational	Changes in industrial structure due to foreign competition alter global supply chains	Change in labour laws and consumption preference
Environmental	Disrupts the supply chain by halting production	Earthquakes, floods, climate change, forest fires
Man-made	Disrupts the supply chain by halting production	Terrorist attacks
Technological	Disruptive technology that changes the economic landscape disrupting global supply changes	Steam engine, blockchain technology
Epidemic	Alters the economic landscape and disrupts the supply chain by halting production	COVID-19, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Ebola pandemics

Source: Authors.

Figure 2. Flow diagram of all the determinants of regional economic resilience.

Source: Authors.

Table 2. Complementary nature of resilience and required system change.

Types of resilience	Interpretation	Focus of resilience	Intensity and duration of shock	Degree of system change
Engineering	Ability to rebound or bounce back to a pre-shock growth path	Resistance and recovery	Very low intensity and duration	No change
Ecological	Ability to absorb a shock and maintain a pre-shock growth path without significant structural and functional change	Resistance and recovery	Moderately low intensity and/or duration	Minimal structural and/or functional change
Evolutionary	Ability to adapt structures and functions to maintain core performances	Robustness	Moderately high intensity and/or duration	Partial structural and functional change
Transformative	Ability to create a new reconfiguration and set of structures and functions	Robustness	Very high intensity and duration	Full change of structure and functions

Note: The four main types of resilience are outlined, including their interpretation, dimensional focus(es), general employment depending on the type, intensity, and duration of shocks, and the degree of system change required for each type of resilience.

Source: Authors.

Martin, R., & Sunley, P. (2015). On the notion of regional economic resilience: Conceptualization and explanation. Journal of Economic Geography, 15(1), 1–42. https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbu015

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