To Prevent Floods, China Is Building “Sponge Cities”

After decades of ill-planned growth, urban areas are being retrofitted to prevent disasters

• The flooding in Zhengzhou shocked the country. It left many Chinese wondering whether sponge cities were all they were cracked up to be. After all, a lot of money has been flowing into spongification. Experts reckon that implementing the government’s sponge-city guidelines will cost at least $1trn nationwide.

• Officials insisted that the downpour was a “once in a millennium” event that even the best-built sponge city could not have coped with perfectly.

Source: https://www.economist.com/china/2021/11/18/to-prevent-floods-china-is-building-sponge-cities