Almost all of China's medium and large cities are now susceptible to floods. And [Kongjian] Yu says 60% of them experience flooding every year. Extreme weather from climate change is exacerbating the problem.

In this fascinating article, first published in Liberation School, environmentalist and author Tina Landis explains the concept of sponge cities: what they are, why they are needed, and China’s leading role in developing them.

Nature-based approaches to enhancing the absorbency of urban environments are being used to address the linked issues of climate change, flooding, sanitation and health. Fid Thompson reports.

The Impact of Transforming China's Urban Centers Into Sponge Cities

BEIJING (AP) — To cushion the impact of extreme weather due to climate change, a Chinese landscape architect has been making the case for China and other countries to create so-called “sponge cities.

Our relationship with water has been thrown fatally off balance in many parts of the world this year.

Sponge cities utilise natural wetlands to passively absorb, clean and use rainfall in an ecologically friendly way that reduces dangerous and polluted runoff into urban streets.

China is re-engineering old cities and designing new ones to accept, rather than fight, natural water flows in a vast project spearheaded by ‘water detectives’

Cities in China are increasingly embracing nature and becoming “sponge cities” to prevent flooding, informs Deutsche Welle. The term sponge city refers to a nature-based solution which uses the landscape to retain water, slow down runoff and improve water quality throughout the process. It moves away from levees and channels to control water, and is akin to similar strategies by different names in all corners of the world, such as green infrastructure, sustainable urban drainage systems and low-...