Urban Resilience Enhancement Research Articles

The Impact of Smart City Policies on City Resilience: An Evaluation of 282 Chinese Cities

This study uses four dimensions, namely social resilience, economic resilience, infrastructure resilience, and ecological resilience, to construct an index system for urban resilience. The subject data came from the panel data of 282 prefecture-level cities in China from 2006 to 2020. We selected a multiperiod double-difference model to study the effects of smart city pilot policies on macro-urban resilience. By conducting parallel-trend tests and selecting appropriate robustness tests, this study drew the following relevant conclusion: smart city pilot policies can have a positive effect on the urban resilience level. These policies exert their influence by facilitating industrial structure upgrading, which plays a partial mediating role. Considering different city area distributions and city scales, smart city pilot policies can have significant heterogeneity in their enhancement of urban resilience. The effect is pronounced in the “east > central > west” states and is more likely to have a significant impact on small- and medium-sized cities. Therefore, promoting the scope of smart city pilots, strengthening the intermediary role of industrial structure upgrading, and implementing differentiated policies for different regions and city sizes are important for sustainable urban development.

Resilient city construction efficiency and its influencing factors in China's Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle: Considering both construction input and resilience level of the city

The growing expansion of urban centers combined with a deteriorating climatic environment raises the likelihood and severity of urban disasters. Thus, there is an urgent need to accelerate the resilient city construction. Here, we use efficiency theory to structure an assessment indicator system of the resilient city construction efficiency to examine the actual correlation of urban resilience enhancement and urban resource consumption. Specifically, 16 key cities in the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle (CCEC) are investigated using the super-efficient SBM and GTWR models. The findings reveal that the resilient city construction efficiency varies greatly among cities in the region, but most cities have relatively low resilient city construction efficiency, showing high resource consumption and low resilience levels. Also, the lower efficiency of regional resilient city construction is mainly due to the serious ineffectiveness of technical and resource inputs, insufficient outputs of ecological resilience and engineering resilience, and is also greatly influenced by factors such as the economic level and the technological innovation level. Upon this basis, we suggest the development strategies for resilient city construction in CCEC. This study broadens the perspective and scope of urban resilience research, and also provides a realistic reference for accelerating the construction of resilient cities.

Did Urban Resilience Improve during 2005–2021? Evidence from 31 Chinese Provinces

In the context of climate change, various natural disasters and extreme weather events are occurring with increasing frequency. In addition, large-scale urbanization in China poses serious challenges to disaster resilience. The convergence of climate change and large-scale urbanization has made the enhancement of urban resilience (UR) an important guideline for current urban development. This study analyzes the UR of 31 provinces in China during 2005–2021 through the entropy method. A UR evaluation index system is constructed from the perspective of population resilience, social resilience, economic resilience, safeguarding facility resilience, and ecological resilience. The results demonstrate the following: (1) The overall performance of UR in China is relatively low, with an average value of 0.2390. (2) Chinese provinces significantly differ in UR levels, with Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Fujian being the top performers and Guangxi, Yunnan, Xinjiang, Gansu, and Tibet being the bottom. (3) From 2005 to 2021, the average UR value of the 31 Chinese provinces significantly improved. (4) Generally, the eastern, middle, and western regions exhibit relatively high, medium, and low average UR values, respectively. These research findings provide valuable references for Chinese policymakers to adopt measures for promoting UR enhancement and urban safety.

The Risk-Informed Asset-Centric (RIACT) Urban Resilience Enhancement Process: An Outline and Pilot-Case Demonstrator for Earthquake Risk Mitigation in Portuguese Municipalities

This study introduces the Risk-Informed Asset-Centric (RIACT) process, a novel approach aimed at enhancing the safety and resilience of urban infrastructures against natural and man-made disasters. The RIACT method stands out for its comprehensive analysis of potential disruptions to urban areas, encompassing their susceptibility to disasters, vulnerability factors, and recovery capabilities. This study’s primary focus is on Portugal’s 308 municipalities, assessing their preparedness and ability to recover from earthquake events. Methodologically, the study involved employing geographic information system (GIS) mapping to evaluate earthquake risks, combining data on regional risk areas, demographic and economic profiles, and resilience capacities. This approach provides a detailed understanding of each municipality’s strengths and areas in need of improvement, encouraging a collaborative framework for sharing and implementing best practices. The results reveal significant variations in earthquake resilience across different regions, highlighting the need for tailored resilience strategies. Conclusively, the RIACT method not only enhances the resilience of individual municipalities but also contributes to a broader national strategy for urban resilience, offering valuable insights for effective disaster risk management and recovery planning.

An emergy analysis of environmental sustainability in urban agriculture: evidence from protected agriculture in Beijing, China

Urban agriculture (UA) serves as an essential aspect of local food production that could promote the urban resilience enhancement of food system. This study applies a “farm-to-table” emergy method to analyze the environmental sustainability of two typical urban farms in Beijing, China, based on the field investigation. One is a suburban greenhouse farm that sells food through supermarkets, and the other is an aquaponic farm that delivers fresh food to consumers’ tables by express delivery. The results showed that compared with traditional greenhouse farming, aquaponics farm has a lower environmental loading ratio and higher emergy sustainability index, but requires more emergy inputs. The research findings would provide scientific references for the future planning of urban agriculture from the perspective of both production and sales.

Exploration of Urban Subsystem Coupling Coordination Based on Resilience in Luohe City

With urbanization, the uncertainties faced by urban areas continue to increase, and in response, China's urban planning is transitioning from a focus on quantity to quality. Promoting system coupling and coordination helps to make urban areas more resilient to risk. This paper uses data from Luohe City (China) in 2022 as an example to calculate the inter-system coupling coordination degree (CCD), find the factors that obstruct resilience construction, and further explore the spatial heterogeneity of the obstacle factors. The synthetic evaluation model, coupling evaluation model, and obstacle diagnosis model are used to evaluate and analyze each subsystem. The results are as follows: According to the synthetic evaluation, the mean urban development value is 0.48, with high-value regions clustered in the Southeastern built-up zone. Mean value of urban coupling coordination is 0.66, the coordination level is 7 (Moderate Coordination). Urban development degree is positively correlated with CCD. Globally, the economy is the main factor obstructing resilient growth, but the core obstacle areas of the ecosystem are larger and have a wider impact. This study contributes to understanding the internal action of urban systems and provides data for balance development and urban resilience enhancement.

On the impact of the digital economy on urban resilience based on a spatial Durbin model

<abstract> <p>Based on panel data from 31 provinces in China between 2011 and 2020, we empirically studied the impact of the digital economy on urban resilience using fixed-effects models, threshold-effects models and spatial Durbin models. Our research findings indicate that (1) the development of the digital economy has a significant positive impact on the enhancement of urban resilience; (2) the promotional effect of the digital economy on urban resilience varies significantly across different regions; (3) the promotional effect of the digital economy on urban resilience exhibits a typical double-threshold characteristic due to the different levels of development in digital financial inclusion and (4) the digital economy has a positive spillover effect on the urban resilience of surrounding areas. Therefore, we should actively promote the development of the digital economy and digital financial inclusion, making the digital economy a new driving force for promoting urban resilience.</p> </abstract>

Resilience Assessment of Urban Complex Giant Systems in Hubei Section of the Three Gorges Reservoir Area Based on Multi-Source Data

Due to a lack of guidance in urban systems thinking, China’s rapid urbanization has intensified the interactions and coercive effects between the various urban space subsystems. As a result, “urban diseases” such as environmental pollution, frequent earthquakes, and unbalanced urban–rural development have spread. As a complex giant system, the exploration of urban resilience enhancement is critical to ensuring the joint spatial development of cities and towns. Based on the PSR model, this study screens 38 indicators in five levels of the natural-material-economic-social-intelligent regulation subsystem of the Three Gorges Reservoir Area urban giant system, and constructs a multi-source data resilience assessment framework. Likewise, it employs the Geodetector model to investigate the key factors impacting the resilience mechanism. The results demonstrate that: (1) between 2011 and 2020, the overall resilience in the Hubei section of the Three Gorges Reservoir Area increased from low to high and the coupled characterization of the “pressure-state-response” increased at different rates, with the state layer increasing the most; (2) the frequency of geological hazards, urbanization rate, and total number of early warning and monitoring of geological hazards are the key factors that contribute to changes in spatial resilience; (3) enhanced resilience is the result of the synergistic effects of different driving factors. Our model is used to assess the resilience of the urban system, assisting decision-makers in planning strategies to respond to urban system problems effectively and improve urban resilience.

How Digital Platforms Enhance Urban Resilience

Throughout human history, natural and man-made disasters have devastated cities in unpredictable ways. Cities must therefore respond faster and better to minimize the risks posed by disasters. Nowadays, with the rapid development of communication technology, digital platforms are increasingly becoming an indispensable part of people’s lives; hence, they could become a new force for urban resilience. However, there are few studies on how digital platforms enhance urban resilience, so this paper attempts to use the method of CiteSpace (V.5.8.R3, 64 bit) scientometrics analysis and literature analysis to study the dimensions and trends of urban resilience, the role of digital platforms in the dimensions of urban resilience, especially focusing on how digital platforms impact on urban resilience during COVID-19. The results showed that there is considerable literature on natural disasters and infrastructure, but few papers discuss urban governance, knowledge systems, and social media. Furthermore, it is also found that digital platforms contributed to the enhancement of urban resilience in China and Singapore during COVID-19. These suggests that enhancing urban resilience through digital platforms can be a viable approach.

Revelation of Wuhan City’s Response to COVID-19 Pandemic on Urban Resilience Enhancement

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant economic and social impacts worldwide and revealed the importance and urgency of urban resilience enhancement. To learn the lessons from this pandemic, this study undertook a case study in Wuhan City, which was the first city in China where the outbreak was declared, and analyzed the process of its response to the pandemic. Based on the theory of emergency management, this study identified four stages of the emergency management process and conducted an in-depth analysis of the experience gained at each stage from the perspective of urban resilience. Then, this study evaluated the level of urban resilience of Wuhan City, and put forward suggestions for enhancement of the emergency system of China. The findings provided important revelation for other cities to cope with major disasters in the future.

The Contribution of NBS to Urban Resilience in Stormwater Management and Control: A Framework with Stakeholder Validation

Urban waters represent a crucial component for the enhancement of urban resilience due to their importance in cities. Nature-based solutions (NBS) have emerged as sustainable solutions to contribute to urban resilience in order to meet the challenges of climate change. In order to promote the use of NBS for increasing urban resilience, tools that demonstrate the value of this type of solutions over the long-term are required. A performance assessment system provides an adequate basis for demonstrating this value, as well as for diagnosing the current city situation, selecting and monitoring the implementation of solutions. Regarding NBS management, some assessment approaches have been published, focusing on assessing the effectiveness of NBS in the face of climate change and supporting their design and impact assessment. Nevertheless, an integrated approach to assess the NBS contribution for urban resilience has not been published. This paper presents a comprehensive resilience assessment framework (RAF) to evaluate the NBS contribution for urban resilience, focused on solutions for stormwater management and control. Furthermore, details on stakeholders’ validation, with focus on the metrics’ relevance and applicability to cities, is also presented.

Grounding urban resilience through transdisciplinary risk mapping

During 2015, three key global agreements were established which converged on enhancing resilience as an overall strategy towards sustainable development. This paper builds an argument and a structured process for future research and practice that succinctly links urban resilience enhancement with the transdisciplinary development of risk maps. Risk maps are highlighted as useful tools improving a shared understanding of risk, raising awareness, and effectively guiding land use planning and zoning towards enhanced urban resilience. Building codes incorporating past and recent disaster experiences, and multi-hazard maps with high quality data for different performance levels, should be the foundation of transdisciplinary risk mapping.

Reflection on Early Lessons for Urban Resilience and Public Health Enhancement during the COVID-19

With growing impacts on public health systems and economies across the world, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, we need to reflect on some of the early lessons for urban resilience enhancement. In this paper, a brief discussion is made through several recommendations that could make our cities more prepared specially in the probable future waves of this current outbreak or potential spikes in infections or clustered cases. The experiences from global examples highlighted in this study address what has worked in the past few months at the spatial levels of communities and cities. The COVID-19 outbreak highlighted the deficiencies and shortfall across multiple sectors of the urban systems and enabled us to identify risks, challenges, and pathways to better city management. With regard to urban resilience enhancement, the negative impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak are assessed to suggest a checklist of what could be done through early preparedness. The findings are novel in ongoing research related to urban resilience and public health during the COVID-19 pandemic. The early lessons here reflect on the ongoing situation of this pandemic outbreak, but could effectually help to enhance the resilience of our cities and communities, and especially addressing the protection of public health and societal well-being. The findings contribute to major sectors of urban resilience, city management, and public health. The recommendations from this study could be utilised and adapted in any context, allowing for the consideration of all-inclusive decision-making and much-enhanced planning processes.

Caveats and technical challenges in performance evaluation of activated carbon (AC) and non-AC filtration for NO2 abatement toward energy-efficient and healthy ventilation.

As the awareness of public health/safety becomes important and the desire to provide clean/safe indoor air in a sustainable way increases, air filtration technology has become essential at urban built facilities, which are challenged by significant outdoor air pollution due to dense population and heavy traffic. To provide comparable/objective data for designers and professionals of gas-phase filtration equipment in HVAC systems, it is important to understand the performance and characteristics of possible filter medium candidates within a reasonable testing period at low levels of target hazard concentration (typically, ∼0.05 ppm). The present study investigated the 2000-time scale-down evaluation evidence and its behind reasons between practical high-concentration tests (∼100 ppm NO2) and actual low-concentration ones, and investigated potential dangers identified during the study in utilizing activated carbon (AC)-based virgin filter media in indoor applications due to unexpected NO-desorption phenomenon. Six filter media of AC-based and non-AC with different type/pellet/shape/size/target compound were selected and tested for abating NO2 mainly originated outdoors. A multi-channel simultaneous testing system was utilized for similar standard testing conditions. The study findings provide previously unavailable experimental data and new insight into the behavior of widely used filtration media against NO2 for the enhancement of urban resilience.