Sponge cities are beating urban heat in China

Infrastructure to prevent urban flooding has also helped to mitigate urban heat in Zhuhai. – CC4.0/360info

ZHUHAI, a city of 2.4 million in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, is not what you might picture a city at the heart of the world’s most populous area to be. With 708 urban parks, tree-lined waterfront promenades, and a connection between sea and mountain, Zhuhai is a tourism destination known as a forest city.

Zhuhai wasn’t always so leafy. At the end of 2014, the Central Government of China issued an edict promoting what it described as “sponge cities”. In 30 national pilots, with between RMB1.2bil and RMB1.8bil (RM790mil and RM1.2bil) in support, China pushed urban design developed to prevent flooding.