Volume 13, Issue 9 (September 2026), Pages: 227-238

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 Original Research Paper

Emerging risks in the smart city transition: Evidence from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

 Author(s): 

Nguyen Quyet *

 Affiliation(s):

Institute of International Political Economy, University of Finance – Marketing, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

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 * Corresponding Author. 

   Corresponding author's ORCID profile:  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8471-4304

 Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

 
https://doi.org/10.21833/ijaas.2026.09.021

 Abstract

The development of smart cities offers significant opportunities to improve public service efficiency and overall quality of life. However, it also creates new risks arising from the interaction of technological, institutional, and environmental factors. This study develops a risk governance framework for the smart city transition of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), a rapidly digitalizing metropolis that continues to face structural vulnerabilities, including fragmented governance, uneven digital readiness, and high exposure to flooding, land subsidence, and urban heat. Drawing on ISO-based standards for risk governance and urban performance assessment, the study employs the DEMATEL method to map causal relationships among major risk categories, distinguish between “cause group” and “effect group” risks, and identify key leverage points across the system. The findings indicate that legal and governance risks, together with strategic risks, Internet of Things (IoT)-related risks, and climate-induced cross-infrastructure dependence, act as upstream drivers that increase Artificial Intelligence (AI)-related, blockchain-related, and socioeconomic vulnerabilities, resulting in cascading effects across the urban system. Based on the influence map, the study proposes four priority areas for intervention: (i) strengthening IoT security and device lifecycle governance; (ii) ensuring effective data protection and privacy compliance in AI-enabled systems; (iii) improving interoperability standards and cross-sector coordination; and (iv) integrating climate adaptation considerations into digital infrastructure planning. This framework provides an evidence-based foundation for guiding HCMC towards a sustainable, inclusive, and resilient smart city development pathway in the face of increasing uncertainty.

 © 2026 The Authors. Published by IASE.

 This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

 Keywords

Smart city, Risk governance, DEMATEL, Urban resilience, Digital transformation

 Article history

Received 9 March 2026, Received in revised form 3 September 2026, Accepted 3 October 2026

 Acknowledgment

This research was funded by the University of Finance - Marketing (UFM), Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. 

 Compliance with ethical standards

 Ethical considerations 

All participating experts were informed in advance of the study's purpose, procedures, and use of data, and provided informed consent before completing the DEMATEL questionnaire. Participation was entirely voluntary; experts could withdraw at any time without consequence, and all individual responses were anonymized and aggregated before analysis; no personally identifiable information is reported in this manuscript. 

 Citation:

Quyet N (2026). Emerging risks in the smart city transition: Evidence from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, 13(9): 227-238

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