Advances in Urban Resilience for Sustainable Futures

The traditional urbanization path based on scale expansion is unsustainable in karst mountainous regions due to fragmented topography and ecological fragility. Taking Guiyang City as a case study, this paper constructs two evaluation indicator systems for urban–rural development and environmental support. Employing the entropy method, coupled coordination degree model, Grey relational analysis, Geodetector, and multi-source spatial analysis methods to examine the evolutionary trajectory, driving mechanisms, and spatial responses of the human–land system from 2000 to 2024. The results show three main findings. First, the comprehensive score of Guiyang’s urban–rural human–land system increased from 0.054 to 0.826, and the coupling coordination degree rose from 0.223 (relative imbalance) in 2000 to 0.903 (high-quality coordination) in 2024, while the environmental support system deviated from the classic environmental Kuznets curve. Second, the driving force has shifted from economic scale to green well-being. The interaction analysis using Geodetector shows that all interaction types fall under the category of two-factor enhancement, among which the interaction coefficient between the number of broadband internet subscribers and other driving factors has the highest explanatory power, with a q-value of 0.949. Third, spatially, the light center distribution stabilized after 2015, and the land use ecological transition index dropped from 0.162 to 0.050 while the D-value continued rising, showing a significant negative correlation (r = −0.89, p < 0.05). Construction land was concentrated in low-slope (0–6°) and mid-elevation (1000–1400 m) basin areas, overlapping with high-quality farmland, and the synchronization rate between economically active areas and construction expansion was 50%. These findings reveal a digital–ecological co-evolution path in karst regions and provide an empirical basis for urban–rural integration governance. Full article

Enhancing ecological resilience and human well-being is key to achieving the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Within the framework of the Healthy China strategy, this paper treated China’s Healthy City pilot (HCP) policy as a quasi-natural experiment and systematically investigated its impact on ecological resilience, the underlying transmission mechanisms, and heterogeneity. Based on panel data from 286 prefecture-level cities spanning 2011–2023 and employing a spatial difference-in-differences (SDID) model, the empirical results showed that: Spatial correlation analysis indicated a significantly positive spatial correlation in urban ecological resilience across Chinese cities. The baseline regression results showed that the HCP policy significantly improved urban ecological resilience, with the resilience index increasing by 18.1% on average compared with non-pilot cities. The SDID results indicated that the policy generated positive spatial spillover effects on urban ecological resilience, and that policy effects were influenced by geographically neighboring cities. Mechanism tests showed that the Healthy City Pilot policy significantly promoted urban technological innovation and facilitated the transformation of the energy consumption structure, both of which played important roles in enhancing urban ecological resilience. Heterogeneity analysis revealed that the policy had stronger effects in eastern and northeastern cities than in central and western cities, and that large cities benefited more than small and medium-sized cities, mainly due to differences in regional location, development foundations, environmental governance capacity and policy implementation conditions. Full article

Against the backdrop of intensifying disaster risks, community disaster resilience (CDR) has drawn growing attention from scholars and policymakers. Existing CDR measurements, however, largely overlook risk, leaving most assessments unable to indicate whether resilience is sufficient relative to local risk conditions. To address this gap, this study proposes an integrated ratio-based “4R-3r” model for measuring CDR, in which the 4R represents the four typical attributes of resilience, and the 3r denotes the three dimensions of risk. We apply the “4R-3r” model to 1385 communities in Shanghai’s Pudong New Area alongside spatial analysis and validate it with regression-based tests. The results indicate that: (1) inherent resilience and inherent risk exhibit distinct spatial patterns, producing a fragmented and discontinuous CDR distribution; among low-CDR communities, approximately 87% belong to the Low 4R–High 3r type and warrant priority governance attention; (2) the CDR index demonstrates greater explanatory power for observed resilience performance compared with the 4R index; and (3) the “4R-3r” model enables dimension-specific diagnosis of resilience deficits and risk drivers at the community level. The findings provide a diagnostic basis for identifying communities where risk exceeds resilience capacity and for prioritizing targeted resilience interventions in similar urban contexts. Full article

As global climate change intensifies, typhoon disasters pose growing threats to the socio-economic stability of coastal cities. Quantifying urban typhoon resilience and identifying its spatial driving mechanisms are essential for informing targeted disaster risk management and built environment optimization. This study develops an NTL-based framework to quantify urban typhoon resilience across three major typhoon events in Zhuhai from 2017 to 2020, using NTL loss rate and NTL recovery time as the primary resilience indicators and NTL loss as a descriptive measure of absolute disaster impact magnitude. OLS and GWR models are then applied to a 20-factor indicator system to identify the global drivers of resistance and recovery capacity and uncover the spatial heterogeneity of their effects across urbanization gradients, with the aim of providing both a replicable methodological framework and an empirical basis to inform differentiated resilience optimization strategies for coastal cities. The results demonstrate that urban typhoon resilience varies systematically across urbanization gradients in both dimensions. Highly urbanized areas consistently show stronger resistance, with NTL loss rates of 32–46% versus 36–50% in low-urbanized areas, as well as faster recovery, with NTL recovery times of 2.6–3.8 days versus 2.9–5.6 days. Transportation infrastructure emerges as the most consistent global driver. GWR reveals that its effects are most pronounced in less urbanized areas, where the absolute coefficient for transport station density reaches 4.804 (over 4% higher than in other zones). Blue–green infrastructure also plays a significant role, with higher NDVI values being associated with shorter recovery times. These findings provide a replicable NTL-based methodological framework and spatially explicit empirical evidence to support targeted and differentiated resilience optimization in coastal cities. Full article

Under the global sustainable development agenda, urban ecological resilience serves as a key indicator of park city. This study established a framework of “Retrospective Evaluation–Prospective Simulation–Zoning Control”. The study chose Chengdu and analyzed land-use changes occurring at three-year intervals from 1999 to 2023. A defense–adaptability–recovery framework was applied to assess urban ecological resilience (UER). The study further simulated land use and urban ecological resilience patterns for 2035 under three scenarios, including natural development, ecological conservation, and park city development scenarios. Finally, it coupled UER with land development intensity to delineate ecological zones and propose differentiated strategies. The results showed that (1) historical UER declined then rose, with low UER concentrated in built-up areas and relatively low UER accounting for the largest share. (2) The park city development scenario yielded the highest UER, but showed limited improvement in existing low-resilience built-up areas. (3) Zoning patterns across scenarios were highly similar, dominated by Potential Development Zones. This study identifies the optimal scenario for enhancing UER and offers zoning strategies that can inform park city development in other cities. Full article

Programs aimed at reducing the CO₂e footprint associated with the residential building stock should be informed by several key elements, including the expected evolution of the occupied housing stock, projected population dynamics driven by socio-economic and cultural factors, available implementation budgets, and the specific costs of intervention measures. However, in regions characterized by high seismic hazard, the occurrence of a major earthquake may substantially alter the projected outcomes of emission-reduction programs, as seismically vulnerable buildings may experience severe structural damage. This paper presents the results obtained by applying an integrated methodology for assessing the CO₂e footprint associated with residential buildings. The methodology accounts for emissions related to building operation (space heating), energy-renovation interventions, and seismic retrofitting works. While the proposed approach is applicable to other seismically exposed regions, the results presented herein refer specifically to the residential building stock in Romania and its local seismic conditions. The methodology integrates information on the existing building stock, the projected evolution of population and the built environment, energy consumption associated with building operation, changes in the energy fuel mix, construction practices across different historical periods with respect to energy efficiency and seismic protection, and the CO₂e footprint associated with energy renovation and seismic retrofitting. In addition, the analysis explicitly considers the potentially negative effects of a major earthquake, particularly the disruption of greenhouse-gas emission-reduction programs. The assessment is conducted at the building stock level and is based on combining building stock evolution with average, representative CO₂e intensity values for heating, energy renovation, and seismic retrofitting. The results demonstrate that when the sole objective is to reduce the CO₂e footprint associated with space heating, renovation of the energy fuel mix represents the most effective measure. At the same time, the analysis shows that the CO₂e footprint generated by construction works for energy renovation and/or seismic retrofitting represents only a small fraction of the emissions associated with building operation. The occurrence of a major earthquake is likely to jeopardize overall environmental objectives by increasing emissions related to building operation, energy renovation, reactive seismic retrofitting, and replacement of severely damaged buildings. Conversely, systematic preventive seismic retrofitting of the building stock does not lead to an increase in cumulative CO₂e emissions over the program implementation period. Full article

Urban underground space resource (UUSR) constitutes a critical natural resource and a vital component of the natural environment, whose rational utilization is essential for the sustainable development of cities. Mathematical models are indispensable for the multi-object evaluation of UUSR. However, in previous research based on traditional mathematical models, neither the continuous expression of evaluation results has been considered, nor has the comparability been addressed. In this paper, the interval continuous mathematical model (ICMM) is presented at the theoretical level for UUSR multi-object evaluation. By achieving the continuous distribution of quantitative values of evaluation indicators, removing the step-like output features of evaluation results, and eliminating predefined grade boundaries, the ICMM achieves continuous expression of the results and improves their comparability across different areas. The correlation analysis conducted on the UUSR evaluation indicators demonstrates a significant monotonic relationship between the indicator value and the evaluation result, regardless of the increasing trend or the decreasing trend. Finally, a numerical experiment clearly demonstrates that the ICMM is valid for evaluating different UUSR objects. Full article

Urban emergency shelters constitute essential spatial elements within the framework of urban disaster prevention and mitigation. Addressing the shortcomings of existing evaluation methods, which often overlook the relationship between shelters and their served populations, this study utilizes Xi’an as a case study to develop a resilience assessment model that integrates supporting facilities, operational efficiency, and safety performance. To link this model to the served population, the research incorporates the service population pressure index and employs the Gini coefficient alongside the Lorenz curve to assess the congruence between shelter resilience and population distribution. Moreover, the introduction of the intervention priority index and population vulnerability index facilitates a comprehensive determination of shelter intervention priorities. The results reveal that emergency shelters in Xi’an display a spatial pattern characterized by a “single core with multiple centers,” with higher resilience levels, service pressures, and intervention priorities concentrated in the central urban area and lower values observed in peripheral zones. Additionally, a significant spatial mismatch is identified between shelter resilience and population service demands. Despite relying on static population data and not accounting for the effects of population migration, the evaluation framework presented in this study offers a transferable methodological reference for the comprehensive evaluation of shelters in densely populated urban areas, contributing to sustainable urban development. Full article

This study investigates the rapid, often uncontrolled urban expansion in Khenchela, a medium-sized city in Algeria’s eastern High Plains, and its profound environmental repercussions amid semi-arid fragility. Drawing on sustainable urban development and resilience frameworks, it dissects pressures such as green space reduction (from 45 ha in 1998 to 33 ha in 2023, dropping per capita from 6.1 m² to 3 m² below WHO standards), water scarcity with 35% leakage losses waste mismanagement, informal settlements on hazardous lands, air/soil pollution, and climate vulnerabilities like heat waves and flooding. Employing a mixed-methods approach documentary analysis of (MPLUUP, LUP and MDP) plans, GIS cartography of spatial evolution (2000–2025), statistical demographics, field observations, and institutional critiques, the research exposes governance gaps: fragmented coordination, weak ecological integration, and resource shortages. It reveals socio-spatial disparities across functional zones, underscoring the need for adaptive, participatory strategies that promote polycentric and compact urban forms, enhanced biodiversity, efficient infrastructure, and inclusive governance to strengthen urban resilience. Full article

Urban floods have become a major systemic risk to sustainable urban development under climate change and increasingly frequent extreme hydro-meteorological events. Yet evidence on the long-term evolution of urban flood resilience (UFR) and its structural constraints at the provincial scale remains limited. This study develops a PSR-based framework to assess UFR and diagnose its dominant obstacles using data for 21 prefecture-level cities in Sichuan Province from 2011 to 2023, including meteorological, geomorphological, socioeconomic, infrastructure, environmental, and public service indicators. A combined AHP–EWM is used to integrate subjective and objective information, TOPSIS is applied to derive a composite UFR index and subsystem scores, and an obstacle degree model is employed to identify key constraints and their temporal evolution. Results show that: (1) UFR in Sichuan Province fluctuated but increased overall during 2011–2023, reaching its highest level in 2023; (2) resilience improvement was driven mainly by the response subsystem, while the pressure subsystem showed the greatest interannual variability; and (3) the annual top five obstacles were highly persistent and insufficient response capacity was the dominant long-term constraint on resilience enhancement. These findings underscore that improving the adequacy, institutional robustness, and operational stability of response systems is central to enhancing UFR. This study provides empirical support for the assessment of provincial-scale resilience and policy-oriented flood risk governance. Full article

Amidst escalating global economic instability, urban economic resilience has emerged as a fundamental pillar for sustainable urban development. Using a dataset of 280 prefecture-level cities in China from 2008 to 2021, this study examines the impact of financial agglomeration on urban economic resilience. The entropy weight approach is used to measure urban economic resilience. The main empirical results show that financial agglomeration has a statistically significant positive impact on urban economic resilience, mainly through two mediating channels: the promotion of technical innovation and the optimization of the industrial structure. The beneficial effects of financial agglomeration increase with city size, according to a threshold effect analysis, giving urban sustainable development a stronger boost. Furthermore, compared to resource-based cities, cities in the central and western regions, and cities with low levels of digital finance development, this promotional effect is much more noticeable in non-resource-based cities, cities in the eastern regions, and cities with a high degree of digital finance development. This study underscores the pivotal influence of financial clustering on reinforcing urban economic robustness, offering policy recommendations for fostering sustainable growth and urban development. Full article

Enhancing urban ecological resilience (UER) is crucial for mitigating soil erosion, improving land use efficiency, and preventing ecological degradation. The digital–real economy integration (DRI) plays a pivotal role in strengthening UER, offering a vital pathway for modernizing ecological governance systems and capabilities in the Yellow River Basin (YRB). Based on ecological resilience theory, this study establishes a three-dimensional evaluation framework centered on “resistance–recovery–adaptation”. Using panel data from 78 cities in the YRB from 2011 to 2023, we empirically examine the impact of DRI on UER. The results indicate that DRI significantly improves UER in the YRB, with notably strong positive effects on recovery and adaptation capacities, although there is no significant effect on resistance capacity. Mechanism analysis reveals that DRI promotes UER primarily through three channels: upgrading the industrial structure, strengthening government governance, and spurring green technological innovation. Heterogeneity analysis further shows that the positive impact of DRI on UER is more pronounced in downstream cities, urban agglomerations, non-resource-based cities, key environmental protection cities, green data center pilot cities, and informatization–industrialization integration pilot cities. Spatial analysis confirms DRI generating positive spatial spillover effects on the UER of neighboring cities. This study provides a theoretical basis for understanding the ecological governance potential of DRI and offers policy insights to support coordinated digital and green transformation in the YRB. Full article

Accurately assessing the accessibility of fire services is critical for enhancing urban safety and the resilience of the built environment. However, existing studies often lack a systematic analysis of spatiotemporal dynamics across an entire municipality. To address this gap, this study develops a citywide dynamic assessment framework for Shanghai, integrating GIS with real-time traffic data across 240 consecutive intervals to assess the service accessibility of 195 fire stations in relation to 7973 key units of fire safety. The principal findings are threefold. First, the results reveal significant urban–suburban heterogeneity in emergency response times. Notably, the proximity advantage of fire stations in central urban areas is offset by traffic congestion, and the marginal benefit of traffic speed improvement exhibits a sharp decline once the average speed exceeds a critical threshold of 13.7–21.0 km/h. Second, the accessibility ratio demonstrates a clear temporal pattern, being highest on holidays and lowest during weekday peak hours, and follows a nonlinear spatial decline from the urban centre to the periphery. This pattern is influenced more critically by the matching of supply and demand than by fire station density alone. Third, the analysis identifies dynamic vulnerability hotspots, which display a ‘bimodal (M-shaped)’ pattern on weekdays and a ‘unimodal (A-shaped)’ pattern on weekends and holidays. This spatiotemporal mismatch shows that central urban areas, despite higher station density, can suffer from both high fire risk and low accessibility, revealing structural patterns consistent with the ‘Inverse Care Law’ in emergency service provision. This study concludes that merely improving traffic conditions is insufficient; optimising the spatial matching of resources is paramount for effective urban disaster prevention. By developing a refined dynamic assessment framework, this study advances current knowledge by focusing on demand locations consistent with actual fire regulatory priorities and examining spatiotemporal patterns across both urban and suburban areas, thereby providing quantitative, evidence-based support for the strategic planning of fire stations and the enhancement of infrastructure resilience. Full article

Urban morphology plays a key role in shaping outdoor thermal comfort, especially as cities experience increasing heat stress under climate change. While the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) is widely applied in outdoor thermal comfort studies, existing approaches rarely provide a comprehensive framework for evaluating and comparing the thermal comfort performance of urban morphologies across different times of the day. This study addresses this gap by proposing a time-aggregated, morphology-sensitive framework for comparative assessment of outdoor thermal comfort. Morphological performance is defined as the measurable capacity of an urban form to provide and sustain thermally comfortable outdoor conditions over time, emerging from the combined effects of its spatial configuration and geometry. Hourly UTCI simulations were conducted for three urban morphologies in Aachen, Germany, under present climate conditions and a high-emission future scenario (RCP 8.5, 2050). The urban fabric was discretized into uniform spatial parcels, and the proportion of thermally comfortable areas was evaluated across the diurnal cycle using the Time-weighted Morphological Climate Comfort Ratio (T-MCCR). The results show clear differences in thermal comfort performance among morphologies. Compact urban form exhibits higher comfort persistence and greater resilience under future climate conditions, whereas detached morphologies show lower performance and more fragmented comfort patterns. The proposed framework provides a comparative, design-support tool for morphology-driven thermal comfort evaluation. Full article

Amid the compounded impacts of climate change, economic volatility, and sudden shocks, small and medium-sized cities (SMSCs) have become a critical yet frequently overlooked weak link in urban resilience research. Objective assessment of resilience in SMSCs is essential for improving the design and effectiveness of resilience-building policies. Following China’s official city-size classification criteria—i.e., using urban-district resident population as the statistical basis and defining SMSCs as cities with less than 1 million urban-district residents—this study examines 510 Chinese SMSCs from 2012 to 2023. An entropy-weighted Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method is employed to construct an urban resilience index. Subsequently, spatiotemporal disparities are characterized using nonparametric kernel density estimation and Dagum Gini coefficient decomposition. The results indicate that: (1) from 2012 to 2023, the resilience index of Chinese SMSCs rose from 0.1108 to 0.1121, with an average annual growth rate of 0.1067%. Overall resilience remains low, and the increase is modest, showing a clear regional gradient of Eastern > Central > Western > Northeastern China. (2) Spatiotemporal differentiation reveals the fastest growth in the Eastern region, a similar trajectory in the Central region, slower growth in the Western region, and a decline in the Northeastern region, reinforcing a pattern of gradient divergence. Within-region disparities generally converged, whereas between-region disparities expanded markedly; nonetheless, the transvariation (overlapping) component remained the primary contributor to overall inequality. (3) The resilience of Chinese SMSCs may face a potential Matthew-effect risk driven by the interaction of scale disadvantage and regional disadvantage. These findings provide evidence to support policies aimed at enhancing resilience in SMSCs and inform the development of differentiated resilience-building strategies across regions. Full article

Building resilient cities that can survive, adapt, and thrive amid climate and ecological challenges has become a global priority, yet achieving this goal requires adequate financial support. This study investigates the impact of green finance on urban ecological resilience (UER) by exploiting the establishment of China’s Green Finance Reform and Innovation Pilot Zones (GFPZs) as a policy shock. Using a DPSIR-based (driving force–pressure–state–impact–response) evaluation framework and a staggered difference-in-differences approach with panel data from 277 cities (2011–2022), the empirical results show that (1) the GFPZ policy significantly enhances UER; (2) green finance improves UER through three transmission channels—government environmental governance, green technological innovation, and public environmental participation; (3) the policy effects display clear spatial and structural heterogeneity, with stronger impacts in southern, less-developed, and non-traditional industrial cities, as well as positive local effects, negative spatial spillovers, and significant synergies with national big data pilot zones. This study clarifies how financial instruments contribute to building resilient cities and offers insights for embedding green finance into urban ecological strategies. Full article

Against the backdrop of global climate change, the rising frequency and intensity of extreme weather events pose severe challenges to urban transport and commercial systems. As a core capacity for managing uncertainty and risk, urban resilience requires infrastructure to resist shocks, recover rapidly, and adaptively evolve. From a resilience perspective, this study develops a comprehensive evaluation system for spatial accessibility between subway stations and commercial complexes, operationalized by 21 indicators across five dimensions: Connectivity, Redundancy, Robustness, Dynamic adaptability, and Comfort. Spatial accessibility is simulated and measured using sDNA spatial network analysis, while an in-depth questionnaire survey collects, feeds back, and validates users’ subjective perceptions. By constructing a dual evaluation model that integrates spatial configuration and behavioral psychology, we find that the integrated development of subway stations and commercial complexes can maintain stable functional performance and sustained vitality under complex urban conditions by optimizing connectivity, enhancing redundancy, and improving adaptability. This is manifested in the expansion of residents’ pedestrian networks and the spillover of social service functions. In parallel, underground spaces can be transformed into resilient infrastructure to enhance civil air defense performance and provide diversified evacuation routes. The findings offer theoretical support and practical guidance for the construction of resilient cities. Full article

In the context of rapid urbanization and demographic transition, the implications of population shrinkage for urban sustainable development have attracted increasing scholarly attention. Nevertheless, empirical evidence on the relationship between population change and urban ecological resilience remains limited. Drawing on the Pressure–State–Response (PSR) framework, this study constructs a comprehensive indicator system to assess urban ecological resilience in 110 cities along the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YEB) over the period of 2012–2021. Furthermore, a panel threshold regression model is employed to examine the nonlinear effects of population shrinkage on urban ecological resilience. The findings indicate that urban ecological resilience exhibits an overall upward trend in YEB, characterized by pronounced spatial disparities. Eastern cities have a higher level of resilience than cities in the western region in YEB. The number of cities with shrinking populations is gradually increasing, and these shrinking cities are mainly small and medium-sized cities. The empirical results show that the impact of population shrinkage on urban ecological resilience is distinctly nonlinear, and regional economic development plays a moderating role in this nonlinear relationship. At lower levels of economic development, population shrinkage does not significantly moderate urban ecological resilience. As the economy reaches a moderate stage, population shrinkage exerts a stronger modulatory effect on ecological resilience. When economic development advances to a higher level, however, population shrinkage tends to inhibit ecological resilience. Overall, this study provides a scientific basis for the population–ecological policies tailored to local conditions and offers valuable insights to promote urban sustainable development under conditions of population shrinkage. Full article

Clarifying the pathways through which public emergency response capability influences community responsibility holds positive implications for promoting public participation in community disaster prevention and mitigation efforts. Based on a large-scale community survey covering over 70 cities in China, this study obtained a sample of 1753 individuals through random sampling and employed Bootstrap methods for effect testing. Findings reveal the following: ① Public emergency response capability significantly correlates positively with sense of community responsibility, with both intrinsic cognitive emergency response capability and extrinsic skill-based emergency response capability demonstrating strong positive associations with community responsibility. ② Risk perception mediates the relationship between public emergency response capability and community responsibility, forming the associative pathway: “Enhanced public emergency response capability → Reduced risk perception → Strengthened sense of community responsibility”. ③ Community resilience moderates the “public emergency response capability → risk perception” pathway, with high-resilience communities significantly reducing public risk perception levels. Therefore, to fully leverage the role of public emergency response capability in enhancing community responsibility, efforts should focus on cultivating public risk prevention awareness, comprehensively disseminating safety and emergency knowledge, strengthening public emergency skills training, fostering a culture of neighborhood watch within communities, and optimizing public participation mechanisms for community disaster reduction. Full article