The intensification of water scarcity and the growing physical unsustainability of urban environments have highlighted the urgent need to rethink conventional approaches to sustainable urban design. A major knowledge gap in contemporary research lies in the absence of a structured framework capable of explaining the interrelationships between technological layers of water management and their spatial outcomes within urban environments. Accordingly, the novelty of the present study resides in proposing an integrated structural–conceptual model that combines smart water management and sustainable urban design through a simultaneous data-driven, smart governance, and citizen-centric approach.

This study focuses on the city of Hamedan as a critical case within Iran’s semi-arid climatic region, where annual groundwater table decline reaches approximately 2 meters and the share of winter snow cover has decreased from 20% to 7%. The research aims to analyze the structural components of smart water management and their implications for urban spatial planning. In terms of purpose, the study is applied research, while methodologically it adopts an exploratory–analytical mixed-method approach.

Indicators extracted from the literature were validated through the Delphi technique with the participation of fourteen experts, yielding a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.89. Subsequently, interrelationships among variables were examined using Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) and MICMAC cross-impact analysis.

Findings derived from the five-level ISM model reveal that “Digital Water Resources Governance” and “Integrated Data-Driven Management” occupy the foundational level of the hierarchy and function as the principal driving forces of the system. Meanwhile, “Technology-Enabled Citizen Participation” and “Spatial Matching of Water Supply and Demand” are positioned at the intermediate level, serving as linkage and mediating variables within the spatial planning process.

The results demonstrate that the structural outcome of smart water resource management is the creation of enabling conditions for the implementation of Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) principles and the development of tangible Green–Blue Infrastructure (GBI) layers, including permeable parks and rain gardens. At the highest level of the structural model, these interventions lead to dependent system outcomes, notably the realization of spatial–water justice and the enhancement of urban climate resilience.