#sponge cities

A recent invention replicates the passive reverse osmosis found in mangrove trees to desalinate salty water without the energy-intensive pumps used in traditional reverse osmosis. This process could also be used to remove dissolved particulates of all kinds, not just salt.

In the future, this invention could be utilized to make cities more water-sensitive.

“It has the potential to be used for flood reduction by incorporating it into ‘sponge cities’. These are metropolises with buildings designed to absorb and catch rainwater and reuse it, helping to reduce flooding and make cities more sustainable.”

After a flash flood that sent dead rats floating through the streets of Copenhagen, the city began reimagining itself. Away from concrete and asphalt and towards softer, “spongier” settlements that work with the natural flow of the water cycle. With cloudbursts increasing in intensity because of climate change, many cities from Beijing to Chennai are trying this too - and Copenhagen offers some good lessons.

Excerpt from this story from Fast Company:

Many of the world’s poorest people live in regions most susceptible to flooding.

The situation is expected to worsen in the next few decades, especially for many of the world’s largest cities in lower and middle income countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America. This century, their population is projected to increase substantially. Lagos, for example, could reach a population of 88 million by 2100 according to one academic estimate.

These cities are already improving their infrastructure. But most of the focus remains on big engineering solutions (like flood walls and embankments) rather than a more holistic plans that would involve every level of society. As we have recently argued in our research, these cities must instead become truly “resilient societies” – before it is too late.

There have been some attempts to move beyond a simple focus on engineering. For instance, one approach is to put in place so-called blue-green infrastructure, which uses the planning system to integrate rivers, canals, or wetlands (the blue) with trees, lawns, parks, or forests (the green). This can involve anything from small-scale “rain gardens” that allow water to drain naturally through soil, to much larger-scale artificial wetlands or ponds.

Managed to make 9 new logos for my class architecture project in under an hour.

I AM HIGH AF. :DDDDDDDD

 Landscape architect Kongjian Yu is making ‘friends with water’ to mitigate extreme weather events in modern metropolises

Yu, who grew up on a farm and later studied architecture at Harvard, understands the need to be water conscious. “The ability to regulate water year-round in dry season is a very critical strategy for the people to survive.

“One thing I learned is to slow down the process of drainage. All the modern industrial techniques and engineering solution is to drain water away after the flood as fast of possible. So, modern tech is to speed up the drainage but ancient wisdom, which has adapted in the monsoonal season, was to slow down the drainage so the water will not be destructive anymore. By slowing the water it can nurture the habitat and biodiversity.”

For Australia, and places where water is scarce: “When it’s dry, keep the water on the ground in an aquifer, so it will not evaporate too much.”

Adaptation to drought conditions is also important: using as little water as possible, and recycling what there is.

As Yu says, it’s important to “make friends with water”. “We don’t use concrete or hard engineering, we use terraces, learned from ancient peasantry wisdom. We irrigate. Then the city will be floodable and will survive during the flood. We can remove concrete and make a water protection system a living system.