This article systematically examines the existing deficiencies in China’s flood detention basins concerning their flood control functions, regional development, smart management, and institutional mechanisms. It proposes a governance framework centered on “bottom-line constraints, spatial restructuring, endogenous development, smart enablement, institutional innovation,” exploring pathways for the systematic governance and high-quality development of flood detention basins from perspectives such as baseline constraints for flood safety, risk-based spatial restructuring and zoning governance, balancing interests and fostering endogenous development synergies, digital twin-enabled smart governance, and institutional mechanism enhancement for governance modernization. Furthermore, it suggests the development of eight key technologies covering dynamic monitoring, intelligent operation, and resilience building of flood detention basins, forming a comprehensive technical system for their systematic governance. The research findings aim to provide a theoretical basis and technical support for enabling flood detention basins to transition from a passive flood diversion response to a strategic shift toward “active regulation, balancing safety and development.” Keywords: flood detention areas; systematic governance; spatial optimization; high-quality development 〖FL