ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Interdisciplinary Climate Studies
Study on the Impact of Climate Physical Risks on Urban Sustainability and Resilience
Provisionally accepted
- 1AnHui Business and Technology College, Hefei, China
- 2Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, China
- 3Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, China
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Amid intensifying climate change, climate physical risks (CPR)—including extreme heat, heavy rainfall, and drought—have become critical constraints on urban development. This study constructs an Urban Sustainability and Resilience (USR) index using data from 177 Chinese cities from 2000 to 2023, and applies a spatial Durbin model to examine the spatial impacts of CPR. Technological Innovation (TI) development and government support (GS) are incorporated to identify the underlying transmission mechanisms. The results show the following: (1) CPR exerts a significant negative influence on USR, displaying a spatial pattern of "mild local enhancement but strong spillover attenuation," consistently observed for both sustainability and resilience. (2) Notable regional heterogeneity exists: CPR effects are strongest in western cities, while eastern and central cities experience weaker impacts due to higher adaptive capacity. (3) Mechanism analysis indicates that TI and GS serve as partial mediators, forming a "risk– technology–governance" transmission pathway. These findings provide empirical evidence for strengthening urban climate adaptation, promoting regional collaborative governance, and enhancing digital risk-response capabilities.
Keywords: Climate physical risks, government support, Spatial effects, technological innovation, urban sustainability and resilience
Received: 22 Nov 2025; Accepted: 12 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Wang, Yin and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Nan Li
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