Urban Stormwater Management and Sponge City Concept in China

Abstract Urbanization has been the main driving force for China's economic growth in recent years; however, the highly concentrated urbanized lifestyle has brought many environmental problems to residents, the most urgent of which is urban stormwater management. Some countries have proposed plans for urban stormwater management, such as Low Impact Development (LID), Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD), Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS). As a country with relatively underdeveloped urban stormwater management, China's government proposed an ambitious urban stormwater management plan in 2014, called the Sponge City Programme, which means that a city is designed to act like a sponge, with good ‘resilience’ in adapting to environmental changes and coping with natural disasters. As of 2021, this programme has led to SCP projects in 30 pilot districts all over China, the Sponge City Programme construction impacts both urban development and resident's life. However, there are risks and challenges associated with these projects. Using government research documents as a framework, this paper carefully reviews the progress of the Sponge City Programme in recent years and shows the main challenges faced by Sponge City Programme in terms of connotation, investment, and technology. On this basis, the paper puts forward practical suggestions for the development of the Sponge City Programme and details potential opportunities of new technology, ideology, planning, and flexible investment.

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Sponge City and social equity: Impact assessment of urban stormwater management in Baicheng City, China

Urban Climate ◽

10.1016/j.uclim.2021.100829 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 37 ◽

pp. 100829

Author(s):

Sisi Wang ◽

Elisa Palazzo

Keyword(s):

Impact Assessment ◽

Stormwater Management ◽

Social Equity ◽

Urban Stormwater ◽

Sponge City ◽

Urban Stormwater Management

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The development of Sponge City Program (SCP) – a transition of urban stormwater management and planning practice in Chinese cities

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-3301 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Faith Chan

Keyword(s):

Stormwater Management ◽

Best Practice ◽

Urban Surface ◽

Chinese Government ◽

Urban Stormwater ◽

Rapid Urbanization ◽

Sponge City ◽

Chinese Cities ◽

Urban Stormwater Management ◽

Surface Water Management

&#8216;Sponge City Program&#8217; (SCP) is the term used to describe the Chinese government&#8217;s approach to urban surface water management. The concept was conceived in 2014 in response to an increasing incidence of urban surface flooding in many Chinese cities. While ambitious and far-reaching in its aim (of reducing national flood risk, increasing water supply and improving water quality), the initiative must be implemented by individual sub-provincial or municipal-level government entities. The concept is similar to Blue-Green Cities (BGCs); sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) in the UK, it is developing with different regional climatic and hydrological characteristics, considering rapid urbanization. Indeed, the increasing use of national rather than international examples of best practice reflects a growing body of knowledge that has evolved since the start of the Sponge City initiative. The SCP so far now has run through 6 years and experience a transition on urban stormwater management and planning practices. In this paper, the implementation of the latest SCP guidelines will be presented that using the case of Ningbo and other Chinese cities to illustrate the transformation of the current SCP practices that undertaking the consideration of climate, environmental and socio-economic factors, and how the practice tackle challenges on governance, project financing, integration and assessment by the authorities and stakeholders. These valuable experiences will be vitally important influencing future urban stormwater management and planning practices in Chinese cities.

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Strategies to overcome barriers and to effectively achieve sustainable urban stormwater management: A review

10.31224/osf.io/mz47v ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Anaí Floriano Vasconcelos ◽

Ademir Paceli Barbassa

Keyword(s):

Literature Review ◽

Stormwater Management ◽

Urban Sustainability ◽

The Other ◽

Urban Stormwater ◽

Urban Stormwater Management ◽

Solution Strategies ◽

Other Hand ◽

Common Barriers

Sustainable urban stormwater management (SUSM) is essential to urban sustainability. However, barriers to adopting it are observed even in places where SUSM is more widespread. Recent studies have evaluated strategies for overcoming some types of barriers. However, any study has systematically analyzed the strategies available for overcoming the most common barriers, contributing to widely adopting SUSM. Thus, this article aimed to provide a literature review on these strategies. Sixty-six documents were evaluated, resulting in eight solution strategies, detailed by 81 implementation measures, which were critically analyzed. The interrelationships among the solution strategies and their applicability to overcome the SUSM-related barriers were evaluated. This analysis showed that the solution strategies are interdependent, so it would be inefficient to adopt the strategies in isolation. On the other hand, adopting a strategy can help overcome several barriers, also enhancing other strategies, and consequently contributing to the global scenario of effective SUSM adoption. The availability of this systematized information helps break through common barriers and optimizing efforts to adopt SUSM where it is incipient.

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Urban stormwater: the analysis of the failure of the alternative techniques and the management of quality

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.1995.0009 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 32 (1) ◽

pp. 33-39

Author(s):

E. Alfakih ◽

S. Barraud ◽

Y. Azzout ◽

B. Chocat

Keyword(s):

Stormwater Management ◽

Difficult Problem ◽

Management Approach ◽

Alternative Technique ◽

Urban Stormwater ◽

Urban Stormwater Management ◽

Porous Pavement ◽

Alternative Techniques ◽

Design Construction

The implementation of alternative techniques in urban stormwater management is a difficult problem in terms of choice, design, construction, and operating. We applied a quality management approach to try and have a better understanding of these techniques. The quality of an alternative technique in urban stormwater management is defined; the factors that lead to failures were identified and analysed. In order to reduce these factors, tools were developed, and measures that allow the achievement of the necessary standard of quality are suggested. In this article, all the illustrations refer to the porous pavement technique.

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A study on the effects of urban runoff controls in the sandsli research catchment, Bergen, Norway

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.1997.0696 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 36 (8-9) ◽

pp. 379-384

Author(s):

Sveinn T. Thorolfsson

Keyword(s):

Ground Water ◽

Stormwater Management ◽

Drainage System ◽

Urban Runoff ◽

Source Control ◽

Urban Stormwater ◽

Urban Stormwater Management ◽

Water Conditions

This paper describes a case study on a new alternative drainage system for urban stormwater management, the so-called “Sandsli-system”. The aim of this study is to evaluate the Sandsli system and the effects of the solution on ground water conditions. The study is carried out in the Sandsli research catchment in Bergen, Norway. The idea behind the “Sandsli-system is not to mix the polluted and the clean stormwater combined with a source control for both stormwater quantity and quality. The clean stormwater is percolated as quickly as possible, while the polluted stormwater is collected and conducted to an appropriate site for disposal or treatment. The Sandsli-system was developed as an alternative drainage system to the conventional drainage system. The system has been functioning satisfactorily since 1981 to date. The advantages of the use of the Sandsli-system is highlighted i.e. recharging the stormwater to the ground water. The Sandsli-system is appropriate to locations with climate and geology similar to that found in the coastal part of Norway

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