Why Resilience Is Replacing Sustainability in Today’s World

International Conference on Resilience (ICR 2026)

Vadodara (Gujarat) [India], January 5: For decades, sustainability has guided how institutions, cities, and communities approach growth, responsibility, and long-term balance. Today, however, a more urgent framework is taking centre stage. As environmental shocks intensify, economies fluctuate, digital systems grow fragile, and social inequities deepen, resilience has emerged as the defining lens through which contemporary challenges are being understood and addressed.

Unlike sustainability—which focuses on conservation and equilibrium over time—resilience responds directly to disruption. It is concerned with how systems absorb stress, adapt under pressure, and reorganise without losing their core purpose. In a world shaped by uncertainty rather than stability, resilience is no longer a theoretical aspiration; it is an operational necessity.

This shift in thinking forms the foundation of the International Conference on Resilience (ICR 2026), hosted by Navrachana University. Positioned not as a routine academic gathering but as a response to real-world conditions, ICR 2026 reflects how cities, institutions, and societies are actively navigating overlapping crises.

Academic Urgency Meets Global Engagement

The response to ICR 2026 underscores the growing relevance of resilience studies. More than 175 research abstracts have been received from universities, research institutions, industry organisations, and independent practitioners across India and abroad. This volume reflects a decisive shift in scholarly focus—from idealised future visions to adaptive strategies grounded in present-day realities.

All accepted and presented papers will be published as a Scopus-indexed book series by Springer Nature, lending global visibility and academic credibility to the conference’s research outcomes.

Commenting on the response, Pratyush Shankar, Provost of Navrachana University, noted that the diversity of submissions highlights resilience as an inherently interdisciplinary field—bringing together environmental studies, urban planning, economics, digital systems, and social inquiry. This breadth reinforces the need to approach resilience not in isolation, but as an interconnected and evolving process.

Local Realities, Global Perspectives

Equally significant is the geographical spread of submissions. Contributions span metropolitan centres, emerging cities, and academic hubs across India, alongside international participation from institutions in the United States and Bangladesh. The involvement of national institutes, schools of architecture and planning, universities, research councils, private studios, consultants, and global industry players reinforces resilience as a shared global concern—one shaped by local conditions.

The thematic range mirrors the complexity of contemporary challenges. Environmental resilience addresses intensifying climate events and ecological stress. Economic resilience examines instability in markets, livelihoods, and supply chains. Other research explores urban governance, infrastructure adaptation, and institutional responses to rapid change, positioning resilience as a truly multidisciplinary framework.

Vadodara as a Living Case Study

These themes are far from abstract. Vadodara’s experiences with urban flooding, infrastructure strain, and heritage transformation provide tangible examples of how resilience differs from sustainability. Where sustainability asks how resources can be preserved, resilience asks how cities function when systems fail—and how recovery informs future planning.

While local flooding offers a starting point, ICR 2026 deliberately broadens the conversation. The conference examines environmental and climate resilience alongside urban infrastructure, economic systems, social equity, governance, and digital resilience—acknowledging that modern disruptions rarely occur in isolation.

Bridging Scholarship, Practice, and Policy

This academic orientation is reinforced through KHOJ, an institutional initiative that anchors ICR 2026. Through field-based inquiry, observation, and documentation, students and researchers engage directly with real-world challenges such as ecological stress, habitat transformation, and urban vulnerability—treating resilience as a process shaped by lived conditions.

The conference is further enriched by keynote speakers whose work bridges grassroots action, policy, and science. Rajendra Singh brings insights into community-led ecological resilience. Sandeep Virmani contributes practice-driven perspectives on ecosystems and traditional knowledge. Shailesh Nayak offers a macro-level understanding of climate risks and coastal systems, while Brian B. Rudkin adds international insights on systems thinking and cross-sectoral resilience.

Looking Ahead

Scheduled from January 9 to January 10, 2026, at the Navrachana University campus in Vadodara, ICR 2026 brings together researchers, practitioners, and institutional leaders to explore how resilience—distinct from traditional sustainability—can shape more responsive, adaptable, and inclusive futures.

In doing so, the conference signals a deeper shift in thinking: resilience is no longer a complement to sustainability. It is the framework through which the present moment must be understood.

For more details – https://www.icr2026.com/

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