Spotlight on the Landscape Designer Responsible for China's Absorbent Urban Developments
Sponge cities, a novel concept in urban water management, are gaining traction across the globe as a solution to combat escalating water scarcity and flood risks. The idea was pioneered by Kongjian Yu, founder of the landscape architecture firm Turenscape, in response to the negative effects of urbanization and concrete infrastructure in China.
Kongjian Yu, an influential figure in the field, has designed over 1,000 sponge city projects since 1998, including the transformation of an old shipyard in Zhongshan into a park in 2002. His firm's designs for sponge cities often incorporate long serpentine creeks, vast new wetlands, and terraced landscapes to slow and contain stormwater surges.
One of Turenscape's notable projects is the Benjakitti Forest Park in Bangkok, Thailand, where an old tobacco factory was turned into a 104.5 acre park in about 18 months. The design includes three different constructed wetlands with hundreds of small islands that promote local biodiversity and can handle half a million cubic meters of stormwater.
European cities are also embracing the sponge city concept. Berlin, for instance, applies the Sponge City approach through blue-green solutions like green roofs, rainwater cascades, and pocket parks. Cities like Zurich and Vienna are also actively working on climate-resilient urban spaces incorporating sponge city principles.
The growing interest in sponge cities is evident in activities such as international conferences and further training planned at Swiss institutions like ZHAW. This expanding interest in climate-resilient urban water management is a promising sign for the future of cities around the world.
The implementation of sponge cities is proving to be effective in reducing peak flooding and improving local water quality. For example, when local regulations required a waterway to be widened in Zhongshan, Turenscape instead dug a channel around the trees to preserve the local ecosystem while still enabling stormwater to flow.
The need for sponge cities is increasingly urgent, as a recent study found that about 30% of the world's aquifers are experiencing a decline in water levels at an accelerated rate. This, coupled with a 134% increase in catastrophic floods in the past 25 years, underscores the importance of adopting sustainable water management strategies like the sponge city approach.
In 2015, China made sponge cities a national policy, with a goal of having 80% of cities recycle 70% of their rainwater by 2030. By 2020, around 40,000 sponge city projects were completed, and that year saw an amount of rainwater recycled equivalent to about 20% of its total urban water supply.
Looking ahead, Kongjian Yu plans to start an AI company within the next two years to train software on Turenscape's project datasets. This could then be used by urban planners to design their own sponge city projects, furthering the reach and impact of this innovative approach to urban water management.
The sponge city concept, a departure from traditional strategies like levees and concrete, offers a promising solution to the challenges posed by urbanization and climate change. As more cities adopt this approach, we may see a shift towards more sustainable and resilient urban landscapes.
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