The smart city paradox: Flood resilience in the making of Thu Duc City, Viet Nam

The global proliferation of state-led smart city initiatives in climate-vulnerable river deltas has created a significant development-resilience paradox. The political and economic pressures for rapid urbanization often favor conventional, gray infrastructure, which fragments landscapes, increases imperviousness, and ultimately undermines the city’s long-term resilience to flooding. Current scholarship often examines green infrastructure and smart technology as separate solutions, but lacks integrated frameworks designed to resolve this fundamental conflict within the unique governance context of fast-growing SouthEast-Asian cities. This paper confronts this gap by framing Thu Duc City (TDC) , Viet Nam, as a living laboratory for studying and resolving this paradox . Employing a robust analytical approach that includes GIS, spatial analysis , and detailed hydrological modeling (EPA-SWMM, MIKE FLOOD), our research first quantifies the adverse impacts of TDC’s accelerated development on its water systems. We then propose a novel, integrated framework that systematically resolves the paradox. This framework uses smart technology (IoT sensors, predictive analytics) to dynamically manage and optimize the performance of nature-based green infrastructure, transforming urban resilience from a static defense into an adaptive, responsive system. Ultimately, this research offers a replicable model for urban planners and policymakers to navigate the trade-offs between development and resilience, providing a pathway for a new generation of smarter, more sustainable cities.