Neighbourhood Social Resilience (NSR): Definition, Conceptualisation, and Measurement Scale Development

Taimaz Larimian, Arash Sadeghi, Garyfalia Palaiologou and Robert Schmidt
Additional contact information
Taimaz Larimian: School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE113UE, UK
Arash Sadeghi: Aston Business School, Aston University, Department of Economics, Finance and Entrepreneurship, Aston University, Birmingham B47ER, UK
Garyfalia Palaiologou: School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE113UE, UK
Robert Schmidt: School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE113UE, UK

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 16, 1-24

Abstract: The literature on social resilience lacks a precise definition of this concept and a clear guideline on how to measure it. Particularly, social resilience at the neighbourhood scale has received remarkably little scholarly attention. This study contributes toward filling these gaps in the literature by developing and empirically testing the neighbourhood social resilience (NSR) model as a robust and reliable measurement instrument that integrates various aspects of this complex concept into one coherent and fine-grained psychometric model. The reliability and validity of the NSR model are empirically tested using questionnaire data collected from 234 respondents in five neighbourhoods of Dunedin city, New Zealand. Furthermore, a more nuanced definition for neighbourhood social resilience is provided. Results indicate that social resilience is a second-order and multidimensional concept incorporating eight dimensions. Each of these dimensions captures a distinct piece in the jigsaw of social resilience; therefore, failure to incorporate all dimensions may provide an incomplete picture of this complex phenomenon. Our research bridges the gap between top-down approach of stakeholders and policymakers and bottom-up perceptions and expectations of residents about social resilience of their urban neighbourhood.

Keywords: social resilience; neighbourhood scale; social network; adaptive capacity; measurement model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/16/6363/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/16/6363/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:16:p:6363-:d:395831

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().