An integrated assessment framework for comparing and enhancing flood resilience in heterogeneous floodplains

Climate change is intensifying flood hazards in deltas, challenging agricultural communities dependent on hydrological conditions. Flood resilience has therefore emerged as an alternative to traditional risk management. Yet, comparative resilience studies often overlook how resilience measures vary across floodplain hydrological regimes (FHRs) within a delta. This study proposes an integrated flood-resilience assessment framework integrating FHRs, including freshwater (Fresh_Fl), transitional (Transitional_Fl), and tidal (Tidal_Fl), with flood resilience capacities (FRCs) (absorptive, adaptive, and transformative). Using the Vietnamese Mekong Delta as a case study, the framework operationalizes 31 flood-resilience measures as regime-specific indicators, drawing on 357 surveys and 30 semi-structured interviews. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to visualize broad resilience orientations, while Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis H tests identified statistically supported measure-level differences. Results show that most measures were applied and received high perceived-effectiveness scores with non-significant differences, forming a shared baseline across FHRs, whereas each FHR showed different measure emphases. Fresh_Fl was characterized by strong absorptive protection through large-scale dikes, and farmer-led low dikes were perceived more positively than in Transitional_Fl. Yet, high-dike dominance reduced the role of some adaptive measures and shifted environmental and downstream trade-offs. Additionally, Transitional_Fl and Tidal_Fl showed higher ratings for mechanization and flood utilization under variable water conditions, while government support for flood-adaptive rice was rated more positively in Fresh_Fl and Transitional_Fl. These findings support resilience planning moving beyond one-size-fits-all strategies and differentiated policy pathways considering hydrological conditions, feasibility, governance responsibilities, and maladaptation risks. The framework offers conditional decision-support logic for other flood-prone deltas.