With the acceleration in urbanization, surface hardening has increased, urban flooding and soil erosion problems are frequent, and urban water resource management faces great challenges. Sponge city construction can effectively alleviate these problems by simulating the natural water cycle and constructing blue–green infrastructure. In this study, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and the ArcGIS weighted overlay tool were used to construct a framework for assessing the suitability of sponge city construction in Suzhou from the three dimensions of Geo-Smart spatial productive forces, Eco-Dynamic green productive forces, and Resilio-Tech responsive productive forces. A zoning strategy based on new quality productive forces is also proposed. The results show that Suzhou can be divided into three types of construction zones according to the suitability level: key construction zones, secondary key construction zones, and general construction zones. The key construction zones account for about 28.01% of the total land area, mainly covering the built-up areas of Suzhou, covering the developed urban areas such as Gusu District, Xiangcheng, Suzhou Industrial Park, and other key zones such as Northern Kunshan. The secondary key construction area and general construction area, on the other hand, account for 61.94% and 10.05% of the total area, respectively. From the new quality productive forces, this study proposes the following construction guidelines for sponge city zones: (1) enhance the coordinated development of urban planning and sponge city construction; (2) promote blue–green infrastructure development, strengthen inter-departmental cooperation, and ensure ecological and economic co-development; and (3) encourage public participation in governance. This research offers theoretical and practical guidance for sponge city construction in Suzhou and other cities from the perspective of new quality productive forces.

Rapid urbanization and climate extremes expose cities to multi-dimensional risks, necessitating the coordinated development of new urbanization and urban resilience for achieving urban sustainability. While existing studies focus on core economic zones like the Yangtze River Delta, secondary economic cooperation regions remain understudied. This study examined the Huaihai Economic Zone (HEZ)—a quadri-provincial border area—by constructing the evaluation systems for new urbanization and urban resilience. The development indices of the two systems were measured using the entropy weight-CRITIC method. The spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of their coupling coordination degree (CCD) were analyzed through a CCD model, while key driving factors influencing the CCD were investigated using a grey relational analysis model. The results indicated that both the new urbanization construction and urban resilience development indices in the HEZ exhibited a steady upward trend during the study period, with the urban resilience development index surpassing the new urbanization construction index. The new urbanization index increased from 0.3026 (2013) to 0.4702 (2023), and the urban resilience index increased from 0.3520 (2013) to 0.6366 (2023). The CCD between new urbanization and urban resilience reached 0.7368 by 2023, with 80% of cities in the HEZ achieving good coordination types. The variation of the CCD among cities was minimal, revealing a spatially clustered coordinated development pattern. In terms of driving factors, economic development level, public service capacity, and municipal resilience level were identified as core drivers for enhancing coupling coordination. Infrastructure construction, digital capabilities, and spatial intensification served as important supports, while ecological governance capacity remained a weakness. This study establishes a transferable framework for the coordinated development of secondary economic cooperation region, though future research should integrate diverse data sources and expand indicator coverage for higher precision. Moreover, the use of linear models to analyze the key driving factors of the CCD has limitations. The incorporation of non-linear techniques can better elucidate the complex interactions among factors.

Sponge city construction (SCC) has improved the quality of the urban water ecological environment, and the policy implementation effect of SCC pilots is particularly remarkable. Based on the data envelopment analysis (DEA) model, this study employed the related index factors such as economy, ecology, infrastructure, and the population of the pilot city as the input, and the macro factors of SCC as the output, to scientifically evaluate the relative efficiency between the SCC pilots in China. Eleven representative SCC pilots were selected for analysis from the perspectives of static and dynamic approaches, and comparisons based on the horizontal analysis of the efficiency of SCC pilots were conducted and some targeted policy suggestions are put forward, which provide a reliable theoretical model and data support for the efficiency evaluation of SCC. This paper can be used as a reference for construction by providing a DEA model for efficiency evaluation methods and thus helps public sector decision makers choose the appropriate construction scale for SCC pilots.

The public–private partnerships (PPP) mode is very popular in public infrastructure projects. The PPP model for sponge city construction (SCC) provides an effective way to curb and manage the increasingly serious ecological water problems in China. The quantitative evaluation of value for money (VFM) is an evaluation method that obtains quantitative values through a certain calculation process. However, the current studies lack a dynamic quantitative evaluation of VFM for the entire life cycle of SCC PPP projects, and cannot observe the impact of key factors on the VFM value. By constructing a system dynamics (SD) model for the VFM quantitative evaluation of SCC PPP projects from the perspective of the whole life cycle, this study can intuitively and transparently observe the impact of key factors (such as discount rate and profit margin) on the evaluation results and feasibility of adopting a PPP model in the project, offering policymakers a tool to mitigate the risks of “Pseudo-PPP” projects. After collecting cases in Anhui province from the China PPP Center, this study constructed a life cycle VFM quantitative evaluation system dynamics model suitable for SCC PPP projects that consist of the public sector comparison (PSC) value and PPP value. The results indicate that the system dynamics model can be effectively applied to the dynamic quantitative evaluation of SCC PPP projects and clarify the influence degree on and sensitivity of various factors to the VFM value. Specifically, when the discount rate increases, the decrease in the PPP value is greater than that in the PSC value, leading to an increase in the VFM value. Moreover, a reasonable profit margin is more sensitive to the VFM value and decreases as the reasonable profit margin increases. In addition, choosing different availability service fee calculation methods will result in varying the adjustment range to a reasonable profit margin that drives the adoption of VFM quantitative evaluation. These research findings have provided a viable dynamic research methodology for the quantitative VFM evaluation of SCC PPP projects. This methodology enables the dynamic visualization and easy determination of the acceptable ranges for relevant factors, offers rational policy recommendations for the quantitative evaluation of key factor values, and thereby effectively prevents PPP project violations, promoting fair and reasonable cooperation between governments and private enterprises.

As a key means to implement the multiple goals of water ecological civilization construction, it is particularly important to explore the relationship between sponge city construction and urban water ecological environment. The article examines the improvement effect of the pilot policy on urban water ecological environment by using entropy method to measure the water ecological environment quality of each city and through a multi-period difference in differences (DID) method based on panel data from 284 cities in China from 2010 to 2020. The propensity score matching-difference in differences (PSM-DID) model was further validated. The research results indicate that the implementation of the national sponge city construction pilot policy can significantly promote the improvement of urban water ecological environment quality, and remains valid under a series of robustness tests. There is significant urban and regional heterogeneity in the improvement effects of pilot policy on urban water ecological environment. In the central and eastern regions and larger cities, the pilot policy has a more significant positive impact on improving the quality of urban water ecological environment. The research results have important policy benefits and reference value for promoting the sponge city construction throughout the region to create a beautiful urban water ecological environment.

As unique settlements born of industrial civilization, workers’ residential areas carry rich heritage and the collective memory of communities they contain, endowing them with distinct historical and cultural significance. Assessing and enhancing their resilience are essential for both heritage preservation and sustainable community development. Despite the prevalence of such neighborhoods in China’s old industrial cities, systematic evaluation of their comprehensive resilience remains limited. To address this research gap, we take Taiyuan Mining Machinery Dormitory as a case study. Integrating multi-source spatial and demographic data, we construct a resilience evaluation framework based on the DPSIR model, comprising five criterion layers, 22 element layers, and 49 indicators. Combined with an obstacle degree model, it identifies key factors constraining resilience. Results indicate that comprehensive resilience of the study area is at a “moderate” level, with the “response” subsystem scoring notably low, reflecting insufficient stakeholder attention. Major obstacles include per capita shelter area, building quality, road accessibility, residents’ willingness to participate in governance, and organizational leadership capacity. Based on these findings, targeted strategies are proposed to enhance resilience amid increasing risks. This study contributes to community resilience theory and offers practical insights for the conservation and regeneration of workers’ residential areas under urban renewal.