A Study on the Impact of Dual Pilot Smart Cities and Innovative Cities on City Resilience

Smart cities and innovative cities are important strategies for enhancing city resilience. By using panel data from 285 Chinese cities from 2009 to 2022 and examining “dual pilot” cities via the concurrent implementation of smart and innovative cities as a quasi-natural experiment, this study employs the difference-in-differences model to examine the impact of the “dual pilot” initiative. Furthermore, quantitative assessments are conducted from multiple perspectives through heterogeneity analysis, mechanism analysis, and spatial spillover effect analysis. The findings are as follows: “Dual pilot” cities have the ability to enhance city resilience and have a synergistic effect. The effect on city resilience is significantly greater than that of the “single pilot” design, but policy synergy effects are sensitive to the policy’s implementation sequence. A mechanism test reveals that innovation and development levels and industrial structure upgrading are important paths for “dual pilot” cities to boost city resilience. The heterogeneity study demonstrates that the positive impact of “dual pilot” cities on city resilience is statistically significant only in ordinary cities; non-resource-dependent cities; and cities across eastern, central, and western regions. A spatial spillover analysis demonstrates that “dual pilot” cities exert positive spillover effects on both the implementing cities and their neighboring areas. The above conclusions can serve as a source of reference and inspiration for building “resilient cities”.