Peking University, March 28, 2018: The 26th World Water Day, organized by the United Nations, was held on March 22, 2018, under the theme “Nature for Water.” World Water Day also saw the publication of the United Nations World Water Development Report 2018 which documented water-related issues around the world. Among the innovative solutions to water management highlighted in the report was China’s recent construction of a “sponge city”- a concept pioneered by Peking University Professor Yu Kongjian.
The report details the six-fold increase in the demand for water resources over the past century and shows the continued growth in demand for water at a rate of about 1% each year. Due to population expansion, economic development and shifts in patterns of consumerism, however, future water usage is expected to increase drastically. At the same time, climate change has intensified the global water cycle and caused more droughts and floods. According to Richard Connor, the editor of the UN report, grey infrastructures such as reservoirs, irrigation canals, and treatment plants, are no longer capable of overcoming the new challenges they face.
Looking at solutions for increasingly difficult water management challenges, the report noted that China’s implementation of the “sponge city” concept is an outstanding role model for other nations. The report specifically highlights China’s successful construction of its first sponge city and points out that China plans to establish 16 more pilot “sponge city” projects nationwide by the year 2020. This plan will help to improve water drainage, conservation, and purification and will allow for 70% of rainwater to be recycled.
In this context, the revolutionary achievements of Peking University’s Professor Yu Kongjian and his academic team on the theory and realization of the “sponge city” concept have received international attention. On the eve of this year's World Water Day, a number of international media networks reported on the accomplishments of Professor Yu and his team. The British newspaper The Guardian published an article entitled “Turning cities into sponges: how Chinese ancient wisdom is taking on climate change,” crediting the “sponge city” theory as Yu’s most influential theory. The article states that Yu Kongjian’s designs “aim to build resilience in cities faced with rising sea levels, droughts, floods and so-called ‘once in a lifetime’ storms” through the use of “peasant farming techniques, adapting peasant irrigation systems to urban environments and experience in adapting buildings to a monsoon climate.” The report also outlines Yu Kongjian’s belief to have a good relationship with water due to natural techniques. As Yu explained to The Guardian: “We don’t use concrete or hard engineering, we use terraces, learned from ancient peasantry wisdom. We irrigate. Then the city will be floodable and will survive the flood. We can remove concrete and make a water protection system a living system.”
Yu Kongjian was one of the earliest scholars who proposed the “sponge city” theory. After returning to China in 1997, he has been committed to urban and rural ecological planning, technological research engineering, and practical innovation. Offering solutions for the country’s problems in the fields of ecological protection, “sponge city” construction and ecological restoration, his academic knowledge has also paved the way for the enactment of several pieces of national legislation. In recent years, Yu and his team have been deeply involved in the construction of a “sponge city” in Sanya, Hainan Province. This project was listed by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development as the first “ecological restoration and urban repair” and is set to serve as a demonstration of the concept to be promoted throughout the country. For 20 years, Yu Kongjian and his team have overseen the implementation of similar projects in over 200 cities in China and more than 10 countries in the world. Today, many of these projects are used as case-studies for European and American textbooks and demonstrate potential solutions to mankind’s imminent ecological problems. This is also a vivid example of how Peking University’s scholars are making contributions in China’s landscape design and becoming role models for the world to emulate.
The “sponge city” project “A Resilient Landscape: Yanweizhou Park” designed by Yu’s team winning the 2015 WAF Award
Professor Yu’s design “Square and Round” installed in France
At present, Yu’s team are trying to improve ecosystems and beautify the environment on a larger scale. Yu said: “The ‘sponge’ concept should not only be realized within a city but also spread to regions and the entire nation. Our target is constructing a ‘sponge nation’.”
Written by: Kemerly Wang
Edited by: Zhou Yijing, Erin Dunne
