The smart city pilot program is one of China's key policies for advancing new-type urbanization and an important means for achieving digital-reality integration.Based on data from 282 cities at or above the prefecture level in China from 2010 to 2021,this study uses the smart city pilot policy as a natural experiment,applying a double machine learning model to empirically analyze the impact of smart city construction on digital-reality integration and the mechanism for this effect.The findings indicate the following:(1)Smart city construction can significantly promote digital-reality integration,and this conclusion remains robust after a series of sensitivity checks,including sample trimming,dimension expansion,and sample adjustment.(2)Smart city construction promotes digital-reality integration by facilitating the upgrading of industrial structures,improved digital governance,and the expansion of foreign trade.(3)Smart city construction has significant positive effects on digital-reality integration in non-resource cities,non-traditional industrial bases,small and medium-sized cities,and regions with relaxed environmental regulations.(4)The construction of smart cities has a spatial coordination effect in promoting digital-reality integration.It can help reduce the relative development gap in digital-reality integration at the national,provincial,and regional levels.The study's conclusions provide theoretical support and policy insights for deepening the strategy for digital-reality integration and accelerating regional economic coordination in China.
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