Citizen social resilience: Conceptualising and enhancing collective capacity in times of crisis

Abstract Societies across Europe have faced a cascade of crises - pandemics, climate change, economic instability, and armed conflicts such as the Russian aggression in Ukraine and escalating global tensions. For Finland, sharing a long border with Russia, these crises carry particular resonance, heightening public concerns around security, preparedness, and societal stability. In this context, resilience has gained prominence in both research and policy. Yet, resilience is often framed through the lens of hard security, focused on military capacity and material preparedness, or as an individual psychological trait, while its collective, socially-embedded dimensions receive less attention. Drawing on insights from public health, social science, and community development, we share our conceptualisation of social resilience: a dynamic interplay between individual resources, social networks, institutional trust, and communication environments that together enhance a community's capacity to withstand, adapt to, and recover from disruptions. Fostering resilience, we argue, requires engaging with these broader relational and structural factors. We identify key elements that can strengthen collective social resilience: strong social ties and support systems, trust in institutions and perceived fairness, opportunities for meaningful participation, and communication practices that enhance agency, security, and shared understanding. We discuss the design and implementation of community-based interviews, interventions, and experiments across selected Finnish regions. The aim is to shift the burden of resilience from individuals to collective structures, fostering environments where people feel safe, connected, and empowered to face crises together. This contribution invites dialogue on how public health strategies can better incorporate resilience as a collective, socially-constructed phenomenon.