Bounce-Back Resilience Model
Design connected systems that absorb shocks and restore function faster
- Difficulty
- Expert
- Time to result
- ~ongoing to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 96%
The Bounce-Back Resilience Model accepts that some shocks will occur despite prevention efforts. It therefore focuses on the capacity of people, communities, and institutions to withstand disruption and restore essential functions quickly. Practitioners identify critical systems, map dependencies among them, and find failure points capable of cascading across conventional silos such as energy, transport, communications, health, and education. They then combine engineered defenses, natural infrastructure, policy changes, operational plans, and prearranged finance. Measures are judged not only by whether they reduce the initial impact but also by whether they accelerate recovery. The model reframes resilience from a single infrastructure project into a connected system of solutions that can be tested, learned from, and strengthened over time.
Origin
Extracted from Masters in Business through Saadia Madsbjerg's description of Rockefeller Foundation resilience work and lessons from Superstorm Sandy.
Core principles
- 01Disasters cannot always be prevented
- 02Resilience means maintaining and restoring essential functions
- 03Solutions must cross institutional silos
- 04Natural infrastructure can complement engineered infrastructure
- 05Recovery resources must be available when timing matters most
How to run it
- 1
Define the shocks
List credible acute events and chronic stresses that could disrupt the community or organization.
Pro tip Include compound events, such as flooding combined with an electrical outage.
Watch out Planning only for the last disaster leaves the system exposed to different shocks.
- 2
Identify essential functions
Determine which services, assets, and social capabilities must continue or be restored first.
Pro tip Prioritize functions by consequences of downtime rather than visibility.
Watch out Treating every function as equally critical makes prioritization impossible.
- 3
Map system dependencies
Trace how power, communications, transport, finance, health, businesses, and civic institutions depend on one another.
Pro tip Look for single points of failure shared by several systems.
Watch out Department-by-department planning can conceal cascading risk.
- 4
Design a portfolio of measures
Combine physical protection, redundancy, natural barriers, policy changes, community capacity, and response procedures.
Pro tip Compare natural infrastructure with engineered alternatives rather than assuming one category is sufficient.
Watch out A prominent capital project may not address the weakest dependency.
- 5
Prearrange recovery resources
Establish responsibility, funding, insurance, suppliers, and decision authority before a shock occurs.
Pro tip Use trigger-based finance when restoration must begin immediately.
Watch out Resources delivered months later may arrive after recoverable assets have deteriorated.
- 6
Exercise and improve
Run scenarios, observe real incidents, and update plans according to failures and recovery performance.
Pro tip Measure time to restore essential functions after each exercise or event.
Watch out A resilience plan that is never tested is only a document.
In the wild
Hotels and local businesses benefit from a healthy reef that protects the tourism economy from storms. A proposed mechanism has beneficiaries pay into a maintenance fund and purchase catastrophe insurance so money is immediately available to repair damaged reef sections before they deteriorate further.
→ Natural protection is maintained in advance and rapid restoration finance strengthens recovery after a storm.
A hospital discovers that its backup generators and fuel systems are in the basement, where the same flood that disrupts grid power could disable them. It relocates critical equipment, creates redundant connections, and tests extended outage procedures with communications and transport partners.
→ The hospital can maintain critical care through a flood and restore normal operations faster.
Common mistakes
Trying only to prevent shocks
Prevention is valuable, but a system that cannot function or recover after prevention fails is not resilient.
Planning in silos
Independent plans for electricity, transport, health, and communications can fail when their cross-dependencies are ignored.
Funding recovery too late
Delayed resources can allow repairable natural or physical assets to deteriorate beyond recovery.
Is it for you?
Best for
Cities, regions, organizations, and infrastructure networks exposed to natural, economic, security, or operational shocks.
Not ideal for
Isolated problems with no meaningful system dependencies or need for continued operation during disruption.
From the transcript
“the capacity of individuals, communities, societies to withstand shocks when they happen and then bounce back from them faster as well.”
“it's not about trying to stop the disasters from happening and saying how do you put in place the systems, the solutions, the policies that…”
“Part of it is also breaking away from the silos that we operate in.”
From the episode
Interview With Saadia Madsbjerg: Masters in Business (Audio)
Saadia Madsbjerg