Resilience of consumer city under heatwaves
Abstract
Abstract This study examines how heatwaves reshape urban consumption across online and offline channels. Using detailed credit card transaction data from Seoul (2022–2025), we analyse category-level spending within urban clusters. We find that heatwaves do not uniformly reduce total sales; instead, they induce heterogeneous channel reallocation. In some sectors, online transactions expand under thermal stress, partially offsetting offline declines, while in others substitution is limited and demand contracts. We conceptualise this process as consumption reconfiguration. Because clusters differ in their sectoral mix, such channel shifts generate uneven spatial consequences. The findings refine urban resilience debates by highlighting adaptive reorganisation rather than aggregate decline.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Regional resilience and development
Urban Heat Island Mitigation
Land Use and Ecosystem Services
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 673-694
- Publication date
- 5 June 2026
- Language
- EN