The effects of the synergy between digital governance and technological innovation on urban ecological resilience: evidence from the Yangtze River Delta

Digital governance and technological innovation are important drivers of urban ecological resilience. Based on panel data from 41 Yangtze River Delta cities (2011–2023), this study employs a two-way fixed-effects model combined with mediation and threshold analyses to examine the synergistic impact of digital governance and technological innovation on urban ecological resilience. The results indicate that their synergy significantly improves urban ecological resilience and is significantly greater than their individual effects, with the effect increasing at higher levels of synergy. Mechanism analysis identifies human capital, environmental governance capacity, and energy efficiency as key mediating channels. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the synergistic effect is stronger in non-resource-based cities, large cities, and peripheral cities. Accordingly, policy should promote the deep integration of digital governance and technological innovation, prioritize improvements in human capital and energy efficiency, enhance environmental governance capacity, and implement context-specific differentiated policies to further strengthen urban ecological resilience.