Abstract
Modern urban flood and water management emphasises holistic strategies that reduce flood risk while providing cobenefits to urban economies, societies, and environments. The “Blue‐Green City” concept provides a viable framework for putting this into practice. Ningbo, is a coastal city with high flood risk, whose history as a Chinese “water town” demonstrates that approaches to water management implicit to the “Blue‐Green” concept were practiced in ancient times, and lessons can be learned from these applications. Furthermore, recent launch of the “Sponge City” campaign by China's National Government demonstrates the political will to implement sustainable flood and water management in ways consistent with the “Blue‐Green” ideals. Selection of Ningbo for a pilot project presents the opportunity to integrate new “Sponge city” approaches with ancient “Blue‐Green” principles, within the contexts of both new urban development and retrofit. Reinventing traditional approaches to urban water management and governance offers the possibility of maintaining flood risk at acceptable levels without constraining urban growth in China and other countries experiencing rapid urban development.
Highlights
This study examines historic urban flood and water management practices in the city of Ningbo, to illustrate that sustainable urban water management has long been practiced and identify synergies that exist with the “Blue-Green City” ideal of reconfiguring the urban water cycle to resemble the natural water cycle
The renovated system still has the capacity to manage water levels in ways that would support multiple functions, including those related to delivering the social and environmental benefits formerly provided by the ancient freshwater network
Only when the beneficiaries appreciate the social and environmental benefits of blue-green infrastructure (BGI) and Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS), can the monetised values of the assets offset the potentially high costs of constructing and maintaining BGI (Bastien et al, 2011). These findings suggest that the “Sponge City” campaign might benefit from extended public engagement, consultation, and involvement
Summary
The renovated system still has the capacity to manage water levels in ways that would support multiple functions, including those related to delivering the social and environmental benefits formerly provided by the ancient freshwater network (derived from the Nantang River). The new policy directives indicate that Chinese government officials at various administrative levels recognise that over-reliance on grey infrastructure is not a viable solution to ensuring reliable supply of freshwater to Chinese cities like Ningbo while keeping flood risk at acceptable levels and meeting multiple other objectives relating to public well-being and sustainable urban development.
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