Resilience capacity and vulnerability: A joint analysis with reference to Slovak urban districts

The concept of resilience has recently been investigated from the perspective of several disciplines. This extensive research has produced many approaches to determine the key definitions, linked to both the notion of stability in dynamics (return to the previous equilibrium after a shock) and the idea of adaptivity (absorption of the shock leading to new equilibria). Among the various definitions and measurements which can be found in the literature, the Resilience Capacity Index (RCI) defines a kind of ‘potential resilience’, i.e. the potential ability of a region to recover, or bounce back in the presence of external shocks. However, the RCI should also be tested empirically versus other resilience/vulnerability indicators. Vulnerability denotes a different view on the state of the system in the presence of shocks, i.e. the degree to which a system is susceptible to harm. In the present paper, this concept will be adopted by analysing the dynamics of the unemployment growth rate, and then comparing it to the RCI. The country of interest in this paper is Slovakia. Slovakia is a small country in Central-Eastern Europe and can serve as a good example of an open and export-based economy, subjected to the global crisis. Thus, in the context of the 2007–2008 economic crisis, the RCI in the 79 Slovak districts is examined with respect to their vulnerability in the first period of rising unemployment (2008–2012), as well as in the second period following vulnerability to the economic shock (2012–2014). A clear West-East divide in the resilience capacity can be seen. The more urban and export-oriented districts with high RCI values are shown to be exposed to high vulnerability compared with the rural districts. On the other hand, the small, peripheral districts respond to a lesser extent, or with a delay, to the shock.