What does "sponge city" mean?

Sponge city is a new generation of urban rainwater management concept, which means that a city can be as flexible as a sponge when it adapts to environmental changes and responds to natural disasters caused by rain, and it can also be called a "water-elastic city".

Its construction can effectively alleviate various water problems in the process of rapid urbanization, effectively improve ecological problems such as urban heat island effect, and create public spaces with ecological and landscape functions. It is a powerful means to restore urban water ecology, conserve water resources, enhance urban flood control capacity, expand effective investment in public products, improve the quality of new urbanization, enhance citizens' sense of acquisition and happiness, and promote the harmonious development between man and nature.

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Design concept:

To build a sponge city, we must first change our concepts. The traditional urban construction mode is full of hardened roads. When it rains heavily, it mainly relies on "gray" facilities such as pipes, canals and pumping stations to drain water. Taking "quick drainage" and "terminal concentration" control as the main planning and design concepts often leads to waterlogging when it rains, and drought and waterlogging turn sharply.

According to the Technical Guide of Sponge City Construction, green measures such as grass ditch, permeable brick, rain garden and sunken green space will be given priority in urban construction, and the main planning and design concepts of "slow drainage and slow release" and "scattered source" will not only avoid floods, but also effectively collect rainwater.

Building a sponge city, that is, building a low-impact rainwater development system, mainly refers to achieving a benign hydrological cycle of the city through various technical channels such as "infiltration, stagnation, storage, purification, utilization and drainage", improving the ability of infiltration, storage, purification, utilization and discharge of runoff rainwater, and maintaining or restoring the sponge function of the city.

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