The rapid growth of the digital economy has given rise to virtual agglomeration, injecting new impetus into urban economic development. Therefore, in the face of the complex economic environment, promoting the integration of information technology and industrial clusters has become crucial for enhancing urban economic resilience.

Based on the data from Alibaba China from 2008 to 2019, this paper constructs virtual agglomeration indicators at the urban level, and tests the impact of virtual agglomeration on urban economic resilience. The regression result shows that increased virtual agglomeration can empower urban economic resilience. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the promoting effect of virtual agglomeration on urban economic resilience is more pronounced in non-old industrial cities, cities with better digital infrastructure, and cities with a higher degree of integration. Mechanism testing confirms that virtual agglomeration empowers urban economic resilience by alleviating resource misallocation and boosting market demand. Further analysis finds that there is a complementary effect between virtual agglomeration and geographical agglomeration, and geographic agglomeration can strengthen the enabling effect of virtual agglomeration on urban economic resilience.

This paper has the following policy implications: First, the integration of digital technology and industrial clusters should be promoted. Second, the construction of new digital infrastructure in cities should be accelerated. Third, highly-integrated development of geographic agglomeration and virtual agglomeration should be promoted. Fourth, the digital transformation of advanced manufacturing clusters and the construction of digital industry chains should be advanced.

The contributions of this paper are as follows: First, it studies the intrinsic association between virtual agglomeration and urban economic resilience, expanding the theoretical boundary of the study of the digital economy and urban economic resilience. Second, it combines the connotations of “virtual” and “agglomeration”, and constructs virtual agglomeration indicators, laying the foundation for the research of the economic impact of virtual agglomeration. Third, it analyzes the internal path of virtual agglomeration affecting urban economic resilience, and finds that virtual agglomeration provides support for urban economic resilience by alleviating resource mismatch and boosting market demand.