Sixty seconds on . . . sponge parks

Is that Spongebob’s cousin?Actually, we’re talking about something a lot more porous than the underwater cartoon character—inspired by China’s sponge cities, designed by Beijing landscape architect Yu Kongjian,1 sponge parks are a nature based solution to flooding. Their purpose is literally to act like a sponge and soak up as much excess water as possible.How absorbingA great example of a sponge park can be found in Manchester. West Gorton Community Park uses plants and clever landscape designs to prevent the surrounding roads and buildings from flooding and to stop drains from overflowing.2Unbe-leaf-ableThe park features swales—shallow, broad vegetated channels that take up runoff water and remove pollutants—as well as rain gardens filled with plants that thrive in water, and bioretention tree pits designed to receive and store stormwater which they then slowly absorb.What’s the root issue?These parks and “cities” can now be seen around the world, with countries like New Zealand,…
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