Making Friends with Water
- Yu Kongjian and his vision to use water to create urban resilience
By Will Hermanson
Keywords – Sponge city, permeable surface, designed wetlands
Summary
The severity and frequency of extreme weather events are increasing because of anthropogenic climate change (McMicheal, 2015). Extreme weather events include prolonged heavy rainfall followed by subsequent flooding. This has proved to be especially detrimental in urban areas as urban spaces generally consist of hard, impermeable surfaces which do nothing to absorb or divert water during events of heavy rain (Keenan-Jones et al., 2023). With the development of cities, floodplains were paved over, forests were bulldozed, and bodies of water were redirected or drained (Gies, 2021). During prolonged extreme rainfall events, urban spaces are susceptible to dangerous flash flooding (Keenan-Jones et al., 2023). Cities have always attempted to control water, but the capacity of many cities to do this is being tested by climate change. In looking for a system of resilience, Sponge cities were born. Sponge cities, using green technologies such as permeable surfaces and designed wetlands, set out to change the way urban areas interact with water. Sponge cities is the concept of Chinese architect Yu Kongjian and aims to improve the capacity in which an urban space can absorb and retain water. In essence, sponge cities are designed to accomplish this by mimicking the processes of hydrological systems which have been paved over (World Economic Forum, 2019).
Sponge city projects are now being undertaken across the world but perhaps the most impressive example is the Yanweizhou Park in Jinhua, China. Located where the Wuyi River and the Yiwu River converge, the Yanweizhou Park is a 64-acre designed wetland which works in unison with the monsoon floods (Topos Magazine, 2021) and is the site of this case study.
Sponge city projects are now being undertaken across the world but perhaps the most impressive example is the Yanweizhou Park in Jinhua, China. Located where the Wuyi River and the Yiwu River converge, the Yanweizhou Park is a 64-acre designed wetland which works in unison with the monsoon floods (Topos Magazine, 2021) and is the site of this case study.
Ecological genealogy
The recent origins of this case study start with tragedy. Deadly flooding in Beijing in July 2012 was a catalyst for change in how urban architectural design worked with natural spaces in China. Following the tragedy, which saw 79 people drown after around 45 cm of rain fell upon the metropolis over twenty-four hours (Whiteman, 2012), Chinese officials set out to solve the adaptive capacity problem of modern urban water management infrastructure (Gies, 2021). As made obvious by the events in Beijing, urban spaces lack the capability to adapt to the increase in flooding events (Keenan-Jones et al, 2023). This disaster became a catalyst for change as a general realization of change being required fell across China. Sponge cities became the policy which aimed to be this change. Sponge cities are the idea and design of Chinese architect, Yu Kongjian. Yu, who was raised on rural farmland in China and received his architectural degree from Harvard, had been proposing his idea of creating sponge cities since the year 2000 (Wong, 2021). Initially, Yu was ridiculed for his “archaic” design ideology, but as disaster struck, sponge cities offered an opportunity for cities to adapt. Sponge Cities set out to completely change the way urban spaces are designed to manage water. The philosophy of Yu centres on his belief that “we can make friends with [the] flood, we can make friends with water” (World Economic Forum, 2019). This philosophy stems from an appreciation for ancient design practices. Yu hoped to replicate ancient Chinese building practices which utilized vegetation and permeable surfaces to better absorb water (Yin et al., 2022). When asked about the flooding in Beijing, Yu pointed to humans destroying the natural resilient systems and to the fact that leaving room for water is not considered in contemporary urban design. The main idea of Sponge Cities would be to allow the natural flow of hydraulic systems to return. Culturally, it was a tragedy which was the initial catalyst for change and the valuing of ancient practices which culminated in the emergence of Sponge cities.
Present Tense
As of 2020, Yu and his architecture group have projects in 250 Chinese cities (World Economic Forum, 2019). Sponge cities of China have become iconic not only because of their success but also because of the massive sponge city parks constructed within some of the most populated cities in the world. The Yanweizhou Park in Jinhua, China has become one of the most famous examples of these large-scale sponge city parks. Yanweizhou Park has transformed the city of Jinhua into a sponge city. Jinhua city, located slightly inland from the east coast of China, has a monsoon climate and because of the concentration of rainfall which falls during the monsoon season, Jinhua had previously suffered from annual flooding. The city had built high walls to protect from flooding before embarking on its sponge city project which aimed to work with the flood. The Yanweizhou Park has been designed to be a terraced river embankment covered with flood-adaptive native vegetation. The inland area surrounding the riverbank is constructed of permeable surfaces to create a system of flooding resilience. Along with the spongy characteristics of soil and vegetation, Yanweizhou Park also utilizes bioswales, and permeable pavements and includes an inner pond within the park to improve its ability to retain water (Topos Magazine, 2021). Along with improving the area’s capacity to retain water, vegetation and soils naturally filter water meaning that sponge cities, like the one in Jinhua, work to mitigate water pollution (Gies, 2022). The green spaces of Yanweizhou Park also provide food, shelter, and breeding grounds for birds, insects, and mammals (Brown, 2023). Sponge cities work across a large urban space to re-establish the hydrological processes of past ecosystems which have been paved over. The aspect of this park that has made the wetland so famous is how its design supports visitors to interact with the area. A colourful pedestrian walkway meanders through the park, 60 meters above the high-flood level. The walkway’s design is inspired by the dragon dancing synonymous with the spring festival. The walkway and park in general have contributed to cultural celebration. On the ground level, gravel paths cover the park so that patrons can explore and use the area while not submerged during the monsoon season (Topos Magazine, 2021).
Future trajectory
Yu Kongjian and his architecture firm, Turenscape, are now expanding out of China, taking on projects in Singapore, South Korea, the United States and Europe. Turenscape’s reputation has led them to collaborate on projects internationally, gradually contributing to the popularization of “making friends with water“(Brown, 2023). While the group promotes working with water instead of against it, the highly designed nature of sponge cities brings up interesting questions about how these systems fit into the definition of natural spaces. Sponge cities are heavily designed urban infrastructures simulating the hydrological functions of past ecosystems; they bear no true original. The sponge cities provide a level of ecological services but cannot replicate the full benefits of natural spaces. They are simulations which improve a city’s ability to adapt to heavy rainfall but fail to address the concerns surrounding the larger consumptive issues of cities. To many, sponge cities can be seen as a band-aid instead of a solution no matter how well the band-aid works. For this reason, sponge cities may face criticism as more projects break dirt going into the future. A question weighing on the idea of sponge cities is whether they can keep up with climate change. Sponge cities failed in Zhengzhou in 2021 when historic rainfalls drenched the city. It was a reminder that the architectural design is not a solution to extreme weather events but rather simply a system of resilience. The flooding in Zhengzhou started the dialogue around how different areas needed different levels of sponge technology and that sponge cities would not work as well as a cookie-cutter practice (Brown, 2023). As a result, the future of sponge cities needs to be adaptive. Sponge cities are a complicated mix of ancient practices, ecological services and urban adaptability. The Sponge city model is a successful example of improving the way humans interact with water and if humans hope to continue living in cities, innovations like the Sponge City are needed.
References
Brown, H. (2023). How China is designing flood-resistant cities. Vox.
Gies, E. (2021, December 22). The architect making friends with flooding. MIT Technology Review. https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/12/21/1041318/flooding- landscape-architecture-yu-kongjian/
Keenan-Jones, D. C., Serra-Llobet, A., He, H., & Kondolf, G. M. (2023). Urban development and long-term flood risk and resilience: Experiences over time and across cultures. Cases from Asia, North America, Europe and Australia. Urban Studies (Edinburgh, Scotland). https://doi.org/10.1177/00420980231212077
McMichael, A. (2015). Extreme weather events and infectious disease outbreaks. Virulence, 6(6): 543–7. doi: 10.4161/21505594.2014.975022.
Wong, T. (2021, November 11). The man turning cities into giant sponges to embrace floods. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-59115753
World Economic Forum. This man is turning cities into giant sponges to save lives. (2019).
Yanweizhou Park: A resilient landscape. Topos Magazine. (2021, August 12). https://toposmagazine.com/yanweizhou-park-a-resilient-landscape/
Gies, E. (2021, December 22). The architect making friends with flooding. MIT Technology Review. https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/12/21/1041318/flooding- landscape-architecture-yu-kongjian/
Keenan-Jones, D. C., Serra-Llobet, A., He, H., & Kondolf, G. M. (2023). Urban development and long-term flood risk and resilience: Experiences over time and across cultures. Cases from Asia, North America, Europe and Australia. Urban Studies (Edinburgh, Scotland). https://doi.org/10.1177/00420980231212077
McMichael, A. (2015). Extreme weather events and infectious disease outbreaks. Virulence, 6(6): 543–7. doi: 10.4161/21505594.2014.975022.
Wong, T. (2021, November 11). The man turning cities into giant sponges to embrace floods. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-59115753
World Economic Forum. This man is turning cities into giant sponges to save lives. (2019).
Yanweizhou Park: A resilient landscape. Topos Magazine. (2021, August 12). https://toposmagazine.com/yanweizhou-park-a-resilient-landscape/