How to approach flooding through adapting to existing situation and preparing for extreme conditions?

Hence, the work poses the following research question: In architecture, the answer should be to find ways to adapt to reality, to approach the city’s wastewater problem with its own resources. Moreover, the idea is to reconceptualize rainwater not as a danger but as a source which should be exploited. Therefore, the main goal of this research is to prevent huge masses of water from discharging immediately into the canals and the bay on the case of Qianhai in China. Finally, this work explores how the landscape can serve to prevent or mitigate the effects of extreme weather conditions. A possible way to approach all of these issues is the sponge city, which is currently adopted by Chinese authorities as ‘the solution’ to all problems. Sponge city is called a ‘water sensitive city’ in Australia, ‘low impact development’ in the USA and ‘sustainable drainage system’ in the UK (Fletcher et al. 2015). It represents a city which is capable of adapting to environmental changes, by acting as a sponge and absorbing the rainfall which is coming to it. Hence, sponge city can absorb, store, drain, and purify the water.

In recent years many authors have elaborated on the issue, such as the process of turning “gray infrastructure” into “green infrastructure” (Jiang et al. 2017). Nowadays, communities can choose to sustain clean waters, act as a support for sustainable communities and provide various benefits for the environment. This approach is called green infrastructure (Environmental Protection Agency, 2017). Green infrastructure uses natural resources (as vegetation and soil) to control storm water, while, on the other hand, gray infrastructure uses pipes and other manmade elements used for water control. Therefore, using natural resources, green infrastructure manages to control the storm water, flood, quality of air, and other environmental processes.

Besides, the whole system can be expanded by improving existing and adding new buildings into the process of making Superblocks. They represent cohesive neighborhood that serve as a replacement of traditional Chinese enclosed urban blocks. Since superblocks provide safe life and collectivism, they support the better way to build cities in this century (Calthorpe, 2011). According to the immense urban growth in China since 1980s, the development of superblocks has successfully established. Supporting the superblocks’ idea, China, as a new fast growing sustainable country, sets standards for efficient urban design which protects the environment and world’s climate (Busch, 2017). Hence, the project of Sponge dty * Sponge Saper- bloda works as a productive, reusable and eco circle. This idea implies comprehensive water system that has to hold all urban environments in one unbreakable and functional circle. It transforms whole neighborhood to a machine covered with ecology wetland, garden parkland, and entertainment parkland Sponge Sponge Superbiocks project is not just movable; it if in the tame time “green* big nurfiin* This hydrological system sensitive area will always change depending on weather conditions. Green machine is adaptive. Therefore, the vision of this work is based on interconnection between technical, residential and landscape spheres.

Sponge Superbiocks include courtyards which represent intimate spaces and are a part of Green Machine. Therefore, courtyards are covered with permeable pavement or vegetation that temporarily stores and infiltrates the runoff into the ground. Buildings in Sponge Superblocks have green roofs that are used as gardens, which comprise these buildings in the system of Green Machine. In addition, it provides sufficient amount of water for domestic use and has lots of organic elements to reduce the pollution. According to the sources of water in Qianhai, Shenzhen, which come from the canals to the green finger, the propose of my project includes improvement and advancement of existing green spaces around the Danam hill, in order to support the function of Canal 1 that collects water from this hill. The whole enlargement process of Sponge area, from the finger to the surrounding green space, has aim to reduce the amount of water in the finger by helping canal 1 to take water from Danam hill. This green sponge area is an ecology wetland with extensive content.

Hence, the project unites green finger (Parkland), green area (Ecology Wetland) and buildings (Sponge Superblocks) with aim to make effective systems that provide suitable remediation to the increasing frequency of extreme weather conditions in the city. Moreover, it provides better and safer life with more activities and opportunities for the urban community. Whole Parkland finger and Wetland area are connected by pedestrian bridges with many pavilions with different functions.

One can say that no city is frozen, it is transforming; it is all about constant transformation in this project. The transformation depends on the amount of water in the finger and in the wetland due to weather conditions. This vision of Sponge city+ Sponge Superblocks with green machine that works from underground and controls the whole neighborhood, is the proposal of a new way of living in a green, exchangeable, recyclable, and sustainable metabolism.