Transformative resilience is the pathway forward towards sustainability. The goal of this chapter is to explore some of the scholarship of transformation, resilience, and adaptation through the work of a number of distinguished thinkers and apply this scholarship to the complex adaptive world of rural communities. The evolution of values and the necessity of change will drive us forward; the only real certainty is that we will change. It is only a matter of how disruptive the process will be. The ideal will be to innovate and study the potential pathways going forward and scale and spread the most constructive ideas, while avoiding the most wasteful and non productive alternatives. Traditionalists, those protective of the old ways, might feel uncomfortable but change is inevitable and the more constructively we embrace it the more successful will be the transitions we must make. Youth will lead us as they have the most at stake and the least invested in the values of the dominant paradigm. Rural communities are a natural proving ground and rural community and population health are a compelling target for these ideas.

Summary Infographic

Authors

Kate Feldman², Anna de Waal² , Salina Edwards¹, Alex Bland², Kishore Hari¹, Martina Francisco², Dr. Stefan Grzybowski^1,2,

¹ Rural Health Services Research Network of BC, Department of Family Practice, University of British Columbia
² Centre for Rural Health Research, Department of Family Practice, University of British Columbia