China Builds “Sponge Cities” in 16 regions To Prevent Floods: Is the latest development effective?

China Builds “Sponge Cities” in 16 regions To Prevent Floods: Is the latest development effective?

Urban areas are most prone to natural disasters like floods, earthquakes, etc. This has resulted in massive destruction of habitat and the livelihood of people is affected. With the development in every field, citified areas are being built in such a way as to avoid natural calamities. 

Moreover, with the increase in population, people have faced difficulties of shortage of water. Is there any everlasting management practice to address the concerns while maintaining the greenery in the surrounding area?

Before we move forward with the article, let us first know about sponge cities.

What are Sponge Cities?

A sponge city is a new construction model for the management of floods and improving the drainage systems along with the strengthening of ecological infrastructure. This system was first proposed by Chinese researchers in the year 2014. It can improve the city’s waterlogging, water shortage, and the heating effect of the urban islands while focussing on improving the ecological environment and biodiversity by capturing rainwater in an efficient way and also reducing floods. Rainwater harvesting can be used for a variety of purposes such as irrigation and for home use. It can be defined as a sustainable rainwater harvesting system on an urban scale.

In the year 2015, China has initiated the concept of Sponge Cities in around fifteen districts. This inventiveness was launched to overcome the scarcity of water in Asia while reducing the flood problems. The country is focused on using 70% of rainwater for different purposes.

Sponge Cities in China:

The Locals of China have a saying famous among them “ When the Buddha’s feet are washed, Leshan can not sleep.” The city in the southwestern province of Sichuan is afraid of the saying. Leshan is established in the coincident point of three tributaries of the Yangzi River.

A long time ago, the residents of that place carved a statue of Buddha into a cliff face which towers a height of around 70 meters. In August 2020, the foot of the Buddha was covered with water for the first time since the Communist Party came into an authority in the year 1949. Many residents suffered from the flood.

Flooding is a significant problem in China. Climate change causes irregular rainfall and storms affecting large basins of the Yangtze situated in Southern China. In the month of July 2021, the Chinese city of Zhengzhou, Henan fought against the heaviest rainfall in millennia. The area experienced devastating floods that killed a total of around 300 people and around 1.24 million lost their homes due to the catastrophe.

The solution China adapted to avoid the flood and also work on shortage of water supply by the concept of sponge cities. The sponge cities are built as new eco-cities and offer an objective to incorporate the water that is wasted in rainfall into town planning.

The concept has been accredited to Kongjian Yu. He is an ecological planner and a landscape architect. He also teaches the students of Peking University in the field of landscape architecture.

The design of sponge cities has drawn inspiration from international integrated urban water management strategies and the concept is operational in the UK or low impact developments in the US. Yu’s sponge cities aim to control urban flooding, water contamination and recycle the rainwater. 

In scientific terms, the sponge city emphasizes on: 

• Being environmentally adaptive.
• Systematic and comprehensive
• Environmentally friendly.

Sponge Cities are inspired by the ancient knowledge of farming and water management tools that uses simple tools in a way to utilize the resources of nature in a sustainable way. 

The concept of Sponge City is visible in different regions of China. The 34- hectare “Quinil stormwater park” in the city of Harbin in Northern China is a successful example of Sponge City. It collects, purifies, and stores rainwater while protecting the natural habitat. Also, it helps to preserve the greenery in the surrounding areas for recreational purposes.

The Chinese Government has already selected sixteen cities and funded a total of 400 and 600 million yuan for the implementation of the project. The cities include Wuhan, Chongqing, and Xiamen. 

About 70% of the country has focussed on bringing the concept into action by the year 2030 to address the problems of water shortage in the near future. China has proven the fact that ecological design can be more than green roofs and rain gardens. It has revolutionized the concept of sustainable development.

Can Sponge Cities be developed in India?

In India, the recent events of heavy rainfall and terrible floods have questioned the safety of people living in that area. Conventional water management problem is not suitable for solving the problem as they do not provide the required solution to address the heightened threats of floods.

Cities like Chennai have to adopt a framework for implementing nature-based solutions that can work for a long time. It includes the identification of problems, selection, design, and implementation of Nature-based solutions through consultations with different landscaping companies. The end process is the monitoring and the evaluation of the strategy displayed.

Final Verdict:

Sponge cities seem to be a beneficial option used to address various issues such as scarcity of usable water, floods, and other natural calamities associated with it. However, the concept has also many challenges to bring it into reality. This includes proper urban planning, government issues, and a shortage of finances. The unavailable urban design may hinder the efficiency of the project.

edited and proofread by nikita sharma