New quality productivity represents an advanced standard of productivity aligned with contemporary development principles. New quality productivity of enterprises serves as a specific manifestation of new quality productivity at the micro level, acting as a powerful driving force and essential support for high-quality development in the new era. Fostering the growth of new quality productivity within enterprises emphasizes the importance of enhancing their innovative capabilities, which holds significant strategic implications for accelerating the advancement of new quality productivity and achieving high-quality development. In the ongoing journey toward promoting high-quality economic and social development, the construction of smart cities aims to address various developmental challenges through the digital transformation of entire regions. The effectiveness of smart city initiatives significantly influences the innovative, green, and digital development of enterprises, which, in turn, impacts the cultivation and growth of new productivity to an extent. Utilizing data from Chinese A-share listed enterprises spanning from 2011 to 2022, this article empirically investigates the effects of smart city construction on the cultivation and development of new productivity within enterprises, employing a progressive double difference model. The findings indicate that smart city construction significantly contributes to both the cultivation of new quality productivity and the enhancement of its levels. The findings withstand multiple robustness tests, including parallel trend tests, placebo tests, variable substitutions, and the exclusion of outlier data. The mechanism analysis reveals that, while facilitating the transformation and upgrading of urban industries at the macro level, smart city construction effectively drives technological innovation at the micro level, thereby promoting the enhancement of new quality productivity within enterprises. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that, during the process of smart city construction empowering enterprises to elevate their new productivity levels, state-owned enterprises and those located in densely populated regions experience more pronounced benefits. This suggests that, in specific practices of smart city construction, it is crucial to consider the unique characteristics of different regions and enterprises, tailoring the development of new productivity to local conditions to maximize the impact of smart city initiatives. The findings of this paper provide vital empirical evidence supporting the ongoing promotion of smart city construction as a means to empower enterprises with new productivity. In the new journey of high-quality development, gaining in-depth insights into and effectively leveraging the impact of smart city construction on enterprise productivity cultivation and enhancement is essential for accelerating the growth and maturation of new quality productivity. Ultimately, this will guide Chinese enterprises toward achieving higher levels of developmental quality and improved efficiency.