Abstract
Rapid urbanization has sharply increased the pressure of urban water issues (e.g., urban flooding and water pollution) in the Chinese megacities during last three decades. Sustainable urban water management approaches, such as Nature Based Solutions (NBS) and Low Impact Developments (LIDs), have successfully delivered long-term benefits to cities in Europe and North America. Similarly, the Chinese Sponge City Program (SCP) initiated in 2013 and experimented in 30 pilot Chinese cities. This paper reviewed the first stage of the SCP from 2015 to 2020 by using observation, Semi-Structured Interview (SSI) and Focus Group Approach (FGA) in context of Gui'an New Distinct, SW China to investigate the SCP progress and issues: (1). whether it is effectively solving urban water issues; (2). if there are any major challenges and barriers in the SCP practice. The findings of this case study provide potential solutions for improving the SCP and sustainable urban water management and possibly transform to other Sponge Cities in China.
Highlights
The scientific community has a general viewpoint that urban water management issues are more frequent worldwide (Qiao et al, 2020)
Gui’an New District was developed in 2011 in southwestern China. It is located in the Guiyang metropolitan area, the eighth national-level new district with planning land area consisting of 1,795 km2 and planned future population of 790,000
Chinese cities are suffering from a range of urban water issues which provides an opportunity to develop sustainable urban water management
Summary
The scientific community has a general viewpoint that urban water management issues are more frequent worldwide (Qiao et al, 2020). Many megacities are facing increasing risks of urban flooding, waterlogging, water pollution, and degradation of water-ecological systems (O’Donnell and Thorne, 2020). From 1980 to 2015, the urban population has increased from 19 to 56.1% in Chinese cities (Jiang et al, 2018). In order to improve urban water management, the Chinese National Government have built many hard-engineering infrastructure (e.g., dams, barriers, and walls). More than 97,000 dams were built during the 1950s after WWII (Cheng, 2005); and the main purpose was large energy consumption that was required for substantial hydroelectric generation, Exploring Sponge City Program (SCP)
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