Objective  In recent years, global climate change has precipitated frequent extreme weather events, particularly flash floods and urban waterlogging triggered by torrential rainfall. These phenomena have inflicted substantial economic losses and casualties worldwide. Among natural disasters, flooding exerts the most extensive impact and accounts for the most significant losses. The Pajiang River flood storage and detention area is the only flood storage and detention area in the Pearl River Basin. Besides, the Pajiang River flood storage and detention area is highly susceptible to extreme rainfall events during the annual flood season. This susceptibility frequently leads to flood formation, making the area a recurrent disaster hotspot. The Pajiang River flood storage and detention area plays a vital role in ensuring the flood control safety of downstream cities in Guangdong – Hong Kong – Macao Greater Bay Area, such as Guangzhou and Foshan. As a critical component of the flood risk mitigation framework, this area modulates flood peaks while retaining excess floodwater volumes. However, the activation of flood storage and detention areas often impacts the local ecological environment and disrupts associated economic activities. Therefore, it is essential to clarify the division mechanism of flood storage and detention areas and master scientific and accurate evaluation methods. This is key to balancing the flood control and disaster reduction responsibilities with ecological and economic development.

Methods  Based on the ecological – economic perspective, this research takes the Pajiang River flood storage and detention area as an example, integrates the area’s sensitivity to flood disasters, ecosystem resilience and economic loss factors, and construct a three-level indicator system consisting of sensitivity, resilience and pressure. The analytic hierarchy process and entropy method are used to evaluate the spatial pattern characteristics of flood resilience in 2022, and the spatial autocorrelation model is applied to classify the priority areas of flood inundation in the Pajiang River flood storage and detention area, and then the landscape strategy of zoning management is proposed.

Results  Research results are summarized as follows. 1) The comprehensive evaluation value of sensitivity – resilience – pressure (SRP) in the Paijiang River flood storage and detention area is mainly high and medium resilience, and the spatial distribution shows a clear pattern of “high in the east, and low in the west”. 2) The overall flood resilience exhibits significant spatial clustering, mainly distributed in high – high clustering zones. Most of the high – high clustering zones are concentrated in the southeastern hilly area, which are more susceptible to water retention and have extensive tree cover. A smaller portion of high – high clustering zones is found in the northeastern part of the research area, where the terrain is flat, landscape connectivity is high, and runoff retention capacity is significant. Scattered high – high clustering zones are located in the western part, where human development and construction activities are more intense. A smaller portion of high – high clustering zones is found in the northeastern part, where the terrain is flat, landscape connectivity is high, and runoff retention capacity is significant. Scattered high – high clustering zones are located in the western part, where human development and construction activities are more intense. 3) Based on the Moran’s I results for comprehensive flood resilience, the research area is divided into three types of management zones: Grade Ⅰ submerged zones require forest structure modification to enhance the resilience of forest ecosystems; Grade Ⅱ submerged zones need the establishment of wetland ecosystems; Grade Ⅲ submerged zones should focus on the development of agricultural and fishery industries, and the balance of flood control responsibilities with economic benefits. According to the local ecological status and socio-economic conditions, the priority zones of inundation are delineated, and landscape improvement strategies are put forward from three aspects: forest stand transformation, wetland ecosystem restoration, and development of agricultural and fishery industries.

Conclusion  Research conclusions are as follows. 1) The developed indicator system is applicable not only to the Pajiang River flood storage and detention area, but also to analogous flood storage areas confronting similar challenges in flood control, ecological vulnerability, and development constraints. This provides methodological references for spatial optimization and flood risk management. 2) Spatial variations in flood resilience within the Pajiang River flood storage and detention area exhibit strong correlations with topographic conditions, vegetation coverage, and land use intensity. These findings substantiate the significant influence of terrain and vegetation structure on flood resilience, providing empirical support for nature-based flood mitigation strategies. 3) The proposed zoning management and structural landscape optimization strategies enhance ecological resilience while reducing economic losses. This delineates practical pathways for precision planning and adaptive management in flood storage and detention areas.