China's ‘Sponge Cities’: the role of constructed wetlands in alleviating urban pluvial flooding

Article


Zhou, T. and Penning-Rowsell, E. 2021. China's ‘Sponge Cities’: the role of constructed wetlands in alleviating urban pluvial flooding. Water and Environment Journal. 35 (3), pp. 1133-1146. https://doi.org/10.1111/wej.12705
TypeArticle
TitleChina's ‘Sponge Cities’: the role of constructed wetlands in alleviating urban pluvial flooding
AuthorsZhou, T. and Penning-Rowsell, E.
Abstract

Research examined constructed wetlands (CWs) in piloting the ‘Sponge City’, a Chinese initiative designed, in part, to curtail extensive urban pluvial flooding. In Yangzhou a small number of exploratory qualitative interviews with relevant professionals elucidated key issues. The interviewees supported the concept of CWs but were uniformly sceptical about their viability. A possible CW in the city was also modelled, quantifying its effects and limitations. Results show that CWs can help attenuate urban flooding but there are important caveats concerning their implementation. These concern their size and capacity, sufficiency of urban space, and their economic sustainability. The political dimension of the Sponge City concept, including support from President Xi Jinping, suggests that CWs may be a distraction from more widespread urban flooding, which CWs may well not alleviate. Piloting is continuing and results will need to be more positive if Sponge Cities can be a strategically important flood attenuation measure.

KeywordsEnvironmental Engineering, Pollution, Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law, Water Science and Technology
Research GroupFlood Hazard Research Centre
PublisherWiley
JournalWater and Environment Journal
ISSN1747-6593
Electronic1747-6593
Publication dates
Online03 May 2021
Print17 Aug 2021
Publication process dates
Deposited12 May 2021
Accepted13 Mar 2021
Output statusPublished
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Copyright Statement

© 2021 The Authors. Water and Environment Journal published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1111/wej.12705
LanguageEnglish
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