How to protect cities, which house the majority of the planet's population, from the extreme weather events predicted to increase in number and intensity due to global warming? From China, an answer to water-related challenges—whether excess or scarcity—comes with the suggestive name of sponge city. A local government program based on this concept was launched at the end of 2014, following major floods that had hit Beijing, the Chinese capital, two years earlier. One of its goals was to locally retain between 70% and 90% of the average annual rainfall by applying technologies and principles of so-called green infrastructure.
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