What is sponge city concept?
‘Sponge cities’ are urban areas with abundant natural areas such as trees, lakes and parks – or other good designs intended to absorb rain and prevent flooding. Experts say cities need to be designed with this in mind as a growing number of urban areas are experiencing devastating floods due to climate change.
Is Beijing a sponge city?
30 cities across the country in different climatic zones and regions have been selected as sponge cities including some familiar names such as Ningbo, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and Wuhan, etc. have been selected as the Sponge cities.
What are sponge city measures?
The case of Lingang, a planned city in Shanghai’s Pudong district, illustrates typical sponge city measures. These include rooftops covered by plants, scenic wetlands for rainwater storage, and permeable pavements that store excess runoff water and allow evaporation for temperature moderation.
What types of design concepts are included in a sponge city?
Designing for Sponge Cities
The theory of Sponge City emphasizes the basic principles of ‘based on nature,’ ‘source control,’ ‘local adaption,’ protecting nature, learning from nature, preserving urban ecological space as much as possible, restoring biodiversity, and creating a beautiful landscape environment.
Who invented the sponge city concept?
One of China’s most prominent urban design thinkers and Dean of the prestigious Peking University’s college of architecture and landscape, Yu Kongjian is the man behind the sponge city concept of managing floods that is being rolled out in scores of Chinese cities.
What is the sponge strategy?
A sponge city is designed to create a much more absorbent urban environment so that the groundwater from such events can be drained away more effectively and collected in aquifers for later cleaning and re-use. A good sponge city strategy also reduces or eliminates the risks from polluted runoff.
How many sponge cities are there?
Since 2014, there have been two batches of 30 different pilot sponge cities implemented across China, with 16 schemes starting in 2015 and 14 in 2016. The pilot studies, such as in Beijing, Tianjin, Wuhan and Shenzhen, are creating practical, localised experiences in implementing IUWM strategies.
Who invented sponge city?
Yu Kongjian
One of China’s most prominent urban design thinkers and Dean of the prestigious Peking University’s college of architecture and landscape, Yu Kongjian is the man behind the sponge city concept of managing floods that is being rolled out in scores of Chinese cities.
What is GREY infrastructure?
Grey infrastructure for stormwater management refers to a network of water retention and purification infrastructure (such as pipes, ditches, swales, culverts, and retention ponds) meant to slow the flow of stormwater during rain events to prevent flooding and reduce the amount of pollutants entering waterways.
What did China build to stop flooding?
Dams have tended to be the most helpful in controlling floods, but the river’s thick silt has clogged many of them. Currently, the Chinese are constructing a massive new dam called the Xiaolangdi Multipurpose Dam Project.
How does China prevent floods?
Faced with worsening urban floods, cities in China are embracing nature and building what are termed “sponge cities.” Instead of relying on the “gray infrastructure” of levees, pipes, dams and channels, sponge cities allow urban areas to absorb water in times of high rainfall and release it in times of drought.
What is the green infrastructure?
Green Infrastructure refers to ecological systems, both natural and engineered, that act as living infrastructure. Green Infrastructure elements are planned and managed primarily for stormwater control, but also exhibit social, economic and environmental benefits.
What is GREY green and blue infrastructure?
Grey infrastructure refers to buildings, roads, and other urban constructions. Blue infrastructure refers to water elements, like rivers, canals, ponds, wetlands, floodplains, water treatment facilities, etc. Green infrastructure refers to trees, lawns, hedgerows, parks, fields, forests, etc.
Why does China flood so much?
Causes of floods
Hu Xiao from the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) indicated that the rains were caused by increased vapors arising from the Indian and Pacific oceans. Some experts claim climate change is partly to blame and such events may become more frequent in the future.
Which river is called China’s grief?
There are two major rivers in China – the Huang He or Yellow River and the Yangtze River. The Yellow River is known as the Sorrow of China, because it changed its course and caused frequent floods.
What is the main cause of China’s air pollution problems?
China consumes almost as much coal annually as all other countries combined, and coal burning in the country is the biggest source of both air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, the leading cause of climate change.
What is green GREY infrastructure?
Green infrastructure refers to natural systems including forests, floodplains, wetlands and soils that provide additional benefits for human well-being, such as flood protection and climate regulation. Gray infrastructure refers to structures such as dams, seawalls, roads, pipes or water treatment plants.
What is the difference between green infrastructure and blue green infrastructure?
Blue infrastructure refers to water elements, like rivers, canals, ponds, wetlands, floodplains, water treatment facilities, etc. Green infrastructure refers to trees, lawns, hedgerows, parks, fields, forests, etc. These terms come from urban planning and land-use planning.
What is the meaning of blue infrastructure?
According to the DDA’s 2041 proposal, ‘blue’ infrastructure refers to water bodies like rivers, canals, ponds, wetlands and floodplains, and water treatment facilities, while ‘green’ refers to trees, lawns, hedgerows, parks, fields, and forests.
How does China deal with floods?
Over the years, the Chinese have tried to control the Yellow River by building higher levees, digging channels and building dams. Dams have tended to be the most helpful in controlling floods, but the river’s thick silt has clogged many of them.
How long did the 1931 China floods last?
The flood covered an area of 83 square kilometres (32 sq mi) and the city was flooded under many feet of water for close to three months.
Why is Yellow River called yellow?
It is called the Yellow River because its waters carry silt, which give the river its yellow-brown color, and when the river overflows, it leaves a yellow residue behind. While the river helps create fertile land that is suited for farming, during certain times of the year the Huang He frequently overflows.
Which river is known as Yellow River?
Yellow River, Chinese (Pinyin) Huang He or (Wade-Giles romanization) Huang Ho, also spelled Hwang Ho, English Yellow River, principal river of northern China, east-central and eastern Asia. The Yellow River is often called the cradle of Chinese civilization.
Which country is the most polluted in the world and why?
Bangladesh had an average PM2. 5 concentration of 76.9 micrograms per cubic meter of air (µg/m3) in 2021, making it the most polluted country in the world. This was almost 20 µg/m3 more than the average PM2.
What country has the most air pollution?
Bangladesh
1. Bangladesh. Bangladesh is the most polluted country in the world, with an average PM2.5 concentration of 77.10, which is nonetheless a decrease from 83.30 in 2019 and 97.10 in 2018.