A wellbeing framework with adaptive capacity

In this paper we propose a framework in which individual and community wellbeing have an impact on the sensitivity of an area to an external shock, and the ability of an area to adapt after the external shock. After developing a framework, this paper then concentrates on how best to measure individual and community wellbeing for regional and rural Australia. In this paper, a number of indicators are proposed to measure dimensions of wellbeing; and then a number of dimensions are used to measure a domain. The domains we have included can be described as five “capitals”: so human capital, social capital, built (produced) and financial capital, natural capital and spiritual capital. All these come together to form an individual’s wellbeing. Owing to the fact that different people will place different weights on each of these domains, dimensions and indicators, this paper has not attempted to derive some single indicator of wellbeing. Instead the paper provides a number of different indicators, allowing the reader to decide themselves what weight each would receive. Further, the paper does not try to quantify the indicators, but provides the framework for the indicators.