Beyond the digital divide: Unlocking urban economic resilience through integrated digital infrastructure and finance

In the complex and rapidly evolving external environment, urban economic resilience has become a consideration factor for cities’ sustainable development. This study examines how coordinated digital infrastructure (DI) and digital finance (DF) development enhances urban economic resilience. Using data from 2011 to 2023 in China, we construct a coupling coordination index to measure synergies between DI and DF. Empirical tests confirm that such coordination significantly improves urban economic resilience by 17.08% of its SD. Mechanism analyses reveal that this effect operates through industrial structure upgrading, innovation capacity enhancement, and entrepreneurial environment optimization. Furthermore, the impact is stronger in large cities and regions with high foreign trade dependence. These findings highlight the necessity of integrating digital technologies’ physical and application layers to mitigate systemic risks and promote equitable growth. We construct a multidimensional framework for analyzing digital synergies and provide actionable insights for policymakers to address digital divide challenges. • The CDD improves the urban economic resilience • Provides new insights for alleviating the digital divide • The CDD has promoted technology, industries and entrepreneurship • Establish an index for the coordinated development of DI and DF