Adapting to Floods by Creating “Sponge Cities” in China

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climate adaptation china sponge cities

The Economic World Forum published an interesting article about what a Chinese Professor has done to adapt to the climate change-induced flooding in China.

Prof Kongjian Yu after studying in landscape architecture at Harvard University, has returned to China to create and design a “sponge city”, an ecologically-based adaptation to flooding.

The idea is simple. The article says:

“Rather than using concrete to channel away rainwater; you work with nature to absorb, clean and use the water.  A solution to adapt to floods while also catering to vegetation and habitat around urban areas.”.

Today, this project has been replicated in 250 places in China.

As one of the largest emitters in the world, China is taking some steps towards mitigating and adapting to climate change through sponge cities – a nature-based solution and cost-effective compared to building grey infrastructures like dykes and floodwalls.

This project can also be replicated in other cities and urban areas around the world experiencing the same water challenges.

To read this interesting article on nature-based climate adaptation, CLICK on the link below:

Source:

Myers, J. (2019, August 28). This man is turning cities into giant sponges to save lives. World Economic Forum. Retrieved from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/08/sponge-cities-china-flood-protection-nature-wwf/

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