Deciphering the spatial and temporal evolution of urban anthropogenic resilience within the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration

Abstract

Urban agglomeration, a highly evolved spatial form of integrated cities, has developed more rapidly with the growing interconnections among the cities. While benefiting from its invigorating prosperity, cities also confront palpable risks. Urban resilience and regional synergy are currently enduring more serious challenges. However, compelling research on urban agglomeration resilience is insufficiently conducted. This study proposes a four-dimensional evaluation index system (economic, political, social, and infrastructure) with a prone emphasis on political resilience, making up for the previous deficiency in interrogating political dimension. A basis for revealing the spatiotemporal evolution of the urban agglomeration resilience in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration (YRD) is provided. Research results indicate that: (1) Urban resilience in YRD has increased significantly and continues to grow, with regional differences narrowing; (2) the YRD's resilience suggests a polycentric cluster distribution with resilience declining from the centre cities to surrounding ones; (3) the urban resilience gradually decreased from the east to the west, from the coast to the interior; and (4) cities with high economic and political resilience may be inferior in other two aspects, necessitating complementary capabilities amongst the cities. Understanding the spatiotemporal evolution of resilience is expected to further induce resilience development and urban synergy.