The survival and development of human society depends on water. In fact, global water demand increased nearly eightfold between 1900–2010 as a result of factors like population growth, economic development and a shift in diet.

One of China's most prominent urban design thinkers and Dean of the prestigious Peking University's college of architecture and landscape, Yu Kongjian is the man behind the sponge city concept of managing floods that is being rolled out in scores of Chinese cities.

The effects of global climate change are likely to worsen an already fragile environment. The predicted more frequent extreme weather conditions can be expected to cause devastating damage to vulnerable African populations as severe floods, drought, and disease threaten people's survival and security. The conventional and expensive, irreversible grey infrastructure that supports development in the Global North is unlikely to adapt to the extreme climate situations that many African cities face. ...

China's central government has an ambitious green infrastructure plan. But will the results live up to the rhetoric?

In mid-July, floodwater submerged the city of Zhengzhou, in China's central Henan province. A year's worth of rain poured down on the city streets over just three days. The cloudburst overwhelmed Zhengzhou's flood defenses, washed away cars, swamped ground-floor shops, and inundated the subway transit line. Over 300 people died in the deluge.

Two recent articles in the American media — one from The New York Times and another from The Christian Science Monitor — raised questions about the efficacy of China’s sponge city concept in the face of climate change.

How the Chinese Communist Party is building an “ecological civilization.”

Dr. Yu Kongjian and his "sponge city" model have helped change how we think of landscape architecture but also seen him branded a "US spy" by some