Regional Economic Resilience in the Central-Cities and Outer-Suburbs of Northeast China

The global economic downturn and the new normal status of China’s economy have revealed that the Northeastern region of the country is facing challenges due to poor adaptability and weak regional economic resilience. In regard to the regional cities of China’s municipal-administered county system and from the perspective of the relationship between the economic resilience of the central-cities and the outer-suburbs, it is helpful to explore the characteristics of the regional economic resilience in Northeast China from 2007 to 2018. We find that: (1) The economic resilience of the central-cities and outer-suburbs in Northeast China has deteriorated. Compared with the central-cities, the economic resilience of outer-suburbs has weakened even more. (2) The types of regional economic resilience of the central-cities and outer-suburbs of Northeast China have diversified and weakened. The main types of economic resilience have changed from city-prospered-suburb-prospered and city-balanced-suburb-prospered to city-balanced-suburb-balanced and city-declined-suburb-declined. There are differences in the types of municipal economic resilience that are affected by changes in the economic resilience levels of central-cities and outer-suburbs. (3) It is further confirmed that the industrial structure has an important influence on the resilience of the regional economy. The economic resilience of the outer-suburbs in the Northeast China appear to be more vulnerable and more heavily influenced by changes in the proportion of the secondary industry than the central-cities.