Urban water challenges in Chinese cities – Sponge City program: initiatives, progress, challenges and opportunities on NBS and urban agriculture

‘Sponge City’ is the term used to describe the Chinese government’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 municipal-level government entities. In this seminar, Faith will provide the latest updates on the urban flood conditions of Chinese cities. The latest response and recovery processes will be introduced such as using the case from the Ningbo and the success of improving flood resilience. Through climate, environmental and socio-economic factors such as media analytics and socio-technological approaches such as NBS and Urban Agriculture rather than only relying on conventional engineering solutions. These practices can all influence how the National guidelines are implemented (governance), and better integration and assessment are found to contribute a better urban future in China and elsewhere.