Spatiotemporal Evolution Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Urban Flood Resilience: The Case of Yangtze River Delta, East China

Urban flood management is pivotal to the construction of resilient cities. However, investigation into the spatiotemporal evolution of urban flood resilience (UFR) and its influencing factors is insufficient. Aiming to address the challenge, this study establishes a multidimensional UFR indicator system grounded in the disaster resilience of place (DROP) model. Following the calculation of UFR through the entropy weighted technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (EW-TOPSIS) method, spatiotemporal evolution evaluation and factor detection are conducted. With panel data from the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration (YRDUA) over the period of 2012–2021, the results demonstrate overall UFR growth from a dominance of lowest-level and low-level cities to a more balanced distribution. Moreover, significant spatiotemporal heterogeneity is observed, with UFRs in cities adjacent to the Yangtze River higher than peripheral ones. Spatial clustering is significant until 2019, primarily manifested as High-High clusters along the Yangtze River and Low-Low clusters in northern Jiangsu and Anhui. Finally, factor detection identifies economic status, population size, environmental regulation, and drainage infrastructure as key influencing factors. These findings not only advance the understanding of UFR in urban agglomerations but also provide targeted recommendations for policymakers to enhance UFR.