"Sponge City: The Designer's Urban Transformation Mission"

Kongjian Yu, a landscape architect, is pioneering the concept of sponge cities, which aim to capture stormwater instead of disposing of it. By slowing down the flow of water and allowing it to soak into the Earth using rain gardens, spreading grounds, permeable pavers, and urban wetlands, sponge cities can reduce flooding, refill aquifers, and adapt to climate change. This nature-based, holistic solution can be implemented at various scales, from personal to community to regional, and offers benefits such as aquifer recharge, biodiversity support, and heat reduction. Yu emphasizes the need to shift from conventional gray infrastructure to green alternatives and change the business model and policy to prioritize nature-based solutions for managing water in a warming climate.