A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Urban Environmental Management, School of Environment, Resources and Development

Thesis (M. Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2016

In the new era, the process of building urban resilience could not be seen as a flipside of vulnerability, it could be seen as the transformation of a complex system to the long term development goal. Vung Tau city- a dynamic coastal city with many potentials to develop economic and society, is suitable to set up the concept of building resilience with long term development goals. In the process of building urban resilience in Vung Tau city, there are limitations and weakness of the capacity performance which required the appropriate solutions to enhance. By stating the problem of the study, the three elements of city capacity performance are assessed including: institutional capacity, physical and natural capacity, and social economics capacity need to be assessed in order to minimize the consequence of external factors to the city development. The scope of the study is to understanding the city characteristics, assessing the urban resilience to water related disaster and suggesting the appropriate strategies to fulfil the gaps and reduce the limitations. The study uses mixed methods of both qualitative and quantitative methods .The primary collection process start with a round table discussion, then questionnaires with the local people, lastly interviewing key informants to assess the urban resilience indicators. Along with the qualitative methods, the quantitative methods are data description of the disaster frequencies, spatial analysis, and questionnaires. The secondary data of the study which are city plan, policy, and relevant documents were applied. From results of the study, applying the long term development goals as the urban resilience indicator are efficiency to determine its resilience, and identify the gaps and weakness of urban system performance. In Vung Tau city, it can be seen that the gaps between vulnerability and capacity are the lack of stakeholder collaboration, information and good practices sharing. If the decision makers cannot fulfill this gaps and overcome the weakness, there will be more potential vulnerability groups affected by the impacts of climate change and natural disaster in this coastal city. The outcome of this study is useful for decision makers who are the key stakeholders in building the urban resilience. Due to the further study, we should develop a complete action plan with the monitoring and evaluation results of a successful urban resilience area. It could be a guide line for cities not only adapting the consequences of urban shocks but also reaching the sustainable development.