From Soft Power to Hard Power: How National Civilized Cities Enhance Urban Resilience

In modern economic society, branding is the unique intangible asset of a city, fully showcasing its soft power. However, the lack of academic research on the value of city brand may hinder the progress in understanding and applying it in the academic community. Therefore, this paper examines the impact of city brand development on urban resilience through the selection of National Civilized Cities (NCCs) in China. It further investigates the influence mechanisms, heterogeneity effects, and spatial spillover effects of NCCs on urban resilience. Our results indicate that: (1) NCCs can significantly improve China’s urban resilience. The reliability of this conclusion is evidenced by various tests. (2) NCCs have a positive impact on economic, social, infrastructure, information resilience, while they have a negative impact on ecological resilience. (3) Urban innovation and investment expansion are important pathways for enhancing urban resilience through NCCs. (4) The effects of NCCs on urban resilience are more pronounced in small-medium cities, non-resource-based cities and cities with lower level of marketization. (5) NCCs can significantly enhance the resilience of surrounding cities. Therefore, local governments should recognize the importance of brand in the process of urban development and strive to enhance urban resilience by creating a unique and attractive city brand.