GAO Zhigang, DING Yuying
Since the implementation of the western development strategy, great achievements have been made in the economic development, the ecological environment and the social development of the western region. Compared with the southwest region, the development speed of the northwest region slowed down in recent ten years, and the gap between the northwest region and the southwest region has gradually widened. In 2020, the western region will usher in a new pattern of development. How to seize the opportunity, narrow the gap with the southwest region and achieve a high-quality development in the northwest region becomes an important research topic. Firstly, the toughness levels of the 30 cities above the prefecture level in Northwest China from 2008 to 2018 are comprehensively measured by the entropy method, and the difference of the toughness levels among the cities is analyzed. Finally, the main factors affecting the urban toughness are analyzed by the panel regression of the 30 cities, and the conclusions are as follows: (1) The gap of the urban resilience level in Northwest China is gradually widening, generally in the upper-middle level, mainly in the medium and relatively strong level, with few cities with a relatively strong resilience, mainly the provincial capitals, without a city with a strong resilience; (2) The great change in the ranking of some cities is mainly due to the different emphasis on the ecological environment. Strengthening the ecological protection makes the ranking of the cities in Gansu Province move upward, while the ranking of the cities in Shaanxi Province, due to the lack of the investment in the environmental governance, goes downward; (3) Due to the lack of cities with a high toughness level and the insufficient driving effect, the urban toughness in Northwest China shows a spatial distribution pattern of few very high level, some relatively high and low levels; (4) The administrative power and science and technology have the greatest influence on the urban resilience, followed by the economy and the openness. Although the financial and social aspects are very important, they do not have a great influence; (5) Administrative power and science and technology have a significant impact on the social resilience and the infrastructure resilience, a negative impact; the economic factors have a significant impact on the four subsystems, a positive impact; the openness has a positive impact on the economic resilience and the social resilience, while it has a negative impact on the ecological resilience and the infrastructure resilience.
