uol: Sponge Cities: A Solution to Flooding in Brazil
Floods are a growing threat to the Brazilian population. According to a survey by the Federal Government, out of the 5,570 Brazilian municipalities, 1,942 are considered 'more susceptible to disasters' such as floods. In Salvador alone, 1,217,527 people live in high-risk areas. Faced with this challenge, the solutions presented and tested in Brazil so far aim to keep water out of cities, using pumps, walls, dams, and other measures.
However, these challenges are not unique to Brazil; other peoples have also been dealing with floods for many years. With the advancement of climate change, these events have been intensifying, and along with them, the search for solutions.
One promising and comprehensive response that has been used in China (and in other countries like the United States and Germany) are sponge cities, a concept developed by Kongjian Yu, founder of Turenscape, a firm specializing in landscape architecture and urban planning.
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