ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the key features of a genealogical reading of resilience. It begins by mapping current fault lines in debates over resilience within geography and related fields. The chapter provides a brief description of what a genealogy entails, and make the case for examining an alternative genealogical tack into the concept – one that foregrounds the formative influence of a designerly ethos on early resilience research. Most accounts of resilience trace the concept's roots to discipline-specific debates in engineering, ecology and psychology. F. Brand and K. Jax's effort to distinguish between resilience as a descriptive concept and a boundary object is a notable effort to account for polarizing debates on the use and potential shortcomings of resilience. A genealogical sensibility allows us to situate the essentially contested nature of resilience in political-philosophical terms. Resilience can maintain the political economic status quo and ensure entrenched interests' security and persistence – a vision of resilience often found in urban security planning.
