Resilience is a term ubiquitously used to gauge how communities fare during and following disasters. Academics and practitioners see resilience as a critical driver of a community’s success or failure in recovering or “bouncing back” from disasters. This self-study aims to provide insight into improving the concept of resilience by bridging how it is studied in theory and practiced in the field. Examination of resilience in the literature with a focus on resilience governance and social, physical, and economic resilience indicators will help frame the concepts. Academics and practitioners will provide insight into the four resilience indicators and how resilience is measured and operationalized, and identify challenges in operationalization and the way forward for resilience. The benefits of clear resilience governance frameworks rooted in diverse, equitable leadership that represents the communities served will be highlighted, as well as ways to grow each indicator. A focus on how communities can foster individual resilience, which contributes to a community’s overall resilience level, will also be examined. Finally, experts will provide insight into how the term resilience can be reconceptualized and reimagined in a way that better aligns with current-day challenges.
