Influencing factors and their influencing mechanisms on urban resilience in China

• Published in: Sustainable cities and society 2021-11, Vol.74, p.103210, Article 103210
• Main Authors: Huang, Guanying, Li, Dezhi, Zhu, Xiongwei, Zhu, Jin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: DEMATEL; Influencing factor; Influencing mechanism; ISM; Urban resilience
• ISSN: 2210-6707; 2210-6715
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scs.2021.103210

•Influencing factors of urban resilience are identified under 4R framework.•Interaction mechanisms of influencing factors are analyzed by DEMATEL-ISM method.•Influencing path among 4R dimensions of urban resilience are proposed.•Factors of resourcefulness are fundamental to influence urban resilience.•Factors of robustness and rapidity are direct to influence urban resilience. With an increase in disturbance in cities, improving urban resilience has become a global consensus in order to achieve sustainable urban development. As the largest developing country in the world, China must improve its urban resilience to withstand various threats during its rapid development. Therefore, it is critical to identify key influencing factors and their influencing mechanisms on urban resilience in China. To achieve this objective, this study identified 12 key influencing factors through literature review and Delphi method under a 4R (i.e., robustness, rapidity, redundancy, and resourcefulness) framework, and used the DEMATEL and ISM methods to investigate their influencing mechanisms. The results indicate that: 1) Policy system is the most important cause factor and resource allocation is the most important effect factor; 2) Factors of resourcefulness are fundamental factors influencing urban resilience. Factors of robustness and rapidity are direct factors influencing urban resilience; 3) There are five influencing paths of influencing factors among the 4R dimensions. Resourcefulness could directly influence robustness, redundancy and rapidity. Redundancy could directly influence robustness and rapidity. In the end, three implications are proposed, including improving the policy system, strengthening the assessment of urban resilience, and integrating resilience concept into the urban system.