Measuring regional resilience towards fossil fuel supply constraints. Adaptability and vulnerability in socio-ecological Transformations-the case of Austria

• Main Authors: Politi, Emilio, Exner, Andreas, Schriefl, Ernst, Erker, Susanna, Stangl, Rosemarie, Baud, Sascha, Paulesich, Reinhard, Warmuth, Hannes, Matzenberger, Julian, Kranzl, Lukas, Windhaber, Markus, Supper, Susanne, Stöglehner, Gernot
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: Elsevier 2016
• Subjects: Resilience / Energy / Peak oil / Vulnerability / Innovation / Social capital
• Online Access: http://epub.wu.ac.at/4937/1/Resilience_Austria_EnPo_WU_EPub.pdf; http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2015.12.031

Resilience has become a prominent concept to understand system vulnerabilities flexible ways of adapting to crises. Recently, it gained importance in discussions a the possible peak in oil production (peak oil) and its consequences, which might a economic performance, social well-being and political stability, and thus also the e transition to a low-carbon economy. The paper presents a new way of measuring resilience as absolute resilience related to a best practice-model of a resilient socie The resilience model is grounded in explicit theoretical assumptions. All indicators justified by theoretical and empirical arguments. We present a case study of Austr municipalities and broader-scale spatial types, which were defined according to th degree of urbanization. The mean resilience of Austrian municipalities is moderate difference between resilience values of municipalities is small. Significant different between spatial types exist. Higher resilience is displayed by less urbanized types due to a higher share of agricultural activities and a more favorable level of GDP per capita. Austria has considerable latitude to improve resilience. Corresponding policies should target resilience components with the lowest values first. A sole focus on regionalization is not recommended. These conclusions are applicable to OECD countries in general. (authors' abstract)