Abstract for: Understanding Sustainability, Quality of Life and Resilience

Las Vegas is faced with three important challenges: promoting sustainability, quality of life and resilience. Sustainability is the ability of Las Vegas residents to meet current needs without compromising the ability of future residents to do the same. Quality of life (QOL) is the level of satisfaction of those residents’ needs and personal preferences. Resilience is a measure of how the city responds to disturbance. A strong city needs a high degree of all three. This paper uses a system dynamics model to explore the relationships that underlie sustainability, QOL and resilience. Stocks of physical, social, natural, and human capital monitor sustainability. Quality of life is the level of satisfaction of residents’ needs and personal preferences. It is measured as the amount of capital available for a given population. Resilience is how quickly the city responds to shocks to its system and continues satisfying quality of life. Model analysis shows how these relationships must be balanced so sustainability is not sacrificed in pursuit of preference satisfaction, and buffers are developed to shield growth and development.