Cities across the world are grappling with the escalating challenges of urban flooding and climate resilience. Traditional grey infrastructure such as concrete flood channels, drainage pipes, and embankments often proves insufficient in the face of extreme weather events.

Chinese experts shared their experience with "sponge cities" with Valdivia, Chile, which aims to be recognized as a "wetland city" to protect its biodiversity. Kongjian Yu presented on ecological infrastructure as a sustainable alternative to traditional methods, highlighting Wuhan's success in implementing these solutions. This exchange aims to help Valdivia balance urban development with environmental conservation.

Chinese landscape architect and urban planner Kongjian Yu, a professor at Peking University and director of the landscape architecture firm Turenscape, one of the largest in the world, often tells a story about when he fell into a river as a boy in rural China. He managed to save himself by grabbing onto branches along the edge

Sponge City is a response to the failing modern concrete and steel stormwater management systems especially during heavy unexpected rains. Sponge City is an alternative resilient stormwater management approach that was conceived as early as the 1970s by Peter Cook but was shaped by the constant efforts of the Beijing-based landscape architect Dr.Kongjian Yu and gained popularity when applied by the Chinese government in 2013.

Professor Yu leads the College of Architecture & Landscape Architecture at Peking University and is founder of Turenscape, a company specialising in the creation of urban infrastructure that soaks up stormwater and opens up nature-rich green spaces. He is also an important voice in a powerful new film about humanity’s relationship with water – Our Blue World, and BlueTech Forum 2024 will open with the European premiere of this documentary.

The city should use this urban planner's idea ofabsorbing,cleaning and using rainwaterefrcientlyand sustainably His concept is not just about managing water, but harmonizing urban development with nature's cycles.

Flash flooding has been described as the main environmental risk to people living in the capital by the Greater London Authority (GLA). One solution put forward is that London should become a "sponge city" - an urban area designed to absorb and hold rainwater. How would this work?