Expert emphasised the pressing want for cities to embrace nature-based options within the battle towards local weather change. Professor Hayriye Eşbah Tunçay, head of the Landscape Architecture Department at Istanbul Technical University (ITÜ) highlights the revolutionary “sponge city” mannequin as a main instance of such options, offering a holistic strategy to mitigate the environmental challenges posed by urbanization and inhabitants development.
The fast tempo of city improvement, spurred by inhabitants surges, has led to accelerated development. However, this pattern has the potential to generate irreversible environmental crises. In this context, vulnerabilities equivalent to floods and landslides in climate-sensitive city areas, coupled with the implications of droughts together with water shortage, agricultural decline, famine, and important lack of life and biodiversity, come to the forefront.
The “sponge city” idea, launched by Chinese panorama architect Kongjian Yu in 2013, provides a promising technique. This strategy facilities on the concept of harnessing rainwater by way of city inexperienced areas, whereas concurrently storing extra water in reservoirs, ponds or designated storage amenities for future use throughout drought situations.
Speaking to the Anadolu Agency (AA), Tunçay informed that remodeling a metropolis right into a sponge metropolis necessitates a various array of pure elements. She identified that the prevailing phenomenon of fast urbanization typically ends in obstacles equivalent to buildings, roads and partitions that hinder the pure move of water to bigger drainage methods, hampering their effectiveness.
For the sponge metropolis mannequin to achieve widespread adoption, Tunçay asserts that the reliance on conventional grey infrastructure should diminish. She notes that fashionable storage options, equivalent to organic ditches, rain gardens, water tanks and barrels, have changed typical strategies like cisterns, marking the evolution towards built-in methods that successfully handle water assets. She additional emphasised {that a} single answer is insufficient to handle the complicated city challenges – an amalgamation of approaches is crucial.
Tunçay additionally informed the requirement for an intricate water administration system. She envisions a situation the place among the water collected in parks circulates by way of pure processes, recharging aquifers, whereas the rest caters to the town’s wants. In areas with restricted inexperienced area, she suggests alternate water accumulation websites equivalent to cisterns or ponds. Additionally, the elimination of boundaries equivalent to medians or pavement heights is essential for the seamless integration of inexperienced areas with water our bodies.
Highlighting the 2 major storage methods, Tunçay signifies that the sponge metropolis mannequin helps each open methods like ponds and closed ones like cisterns. While open methods foster leisure areas for folks and supply habitats for numerous species, in addition they play a vital position in purifying water by absorbing pollution. However, these methods are susceptible to evaporation, notably throughout summer time. Countermeasures embody floor protection methods. Cisterns and warehouses, however, encounter capability points, warranting meticulous challenge analysis.
Tunçay emphasizes the cooling potential of adequately watered soil and flowers. She explains that water-saturated soil can contribute to temperature reductions of as much as 3-4 levels Celsius (5.4-7.2 levels Fahrenheit), offering invaluable local weather consolation and resilience towards drought and warmth.
“The sponge city model embodies a nature-based solution. To combat climate change effectively, cities must seamlessly integrate with these natural solutions. Plants serve as a vital link between the earth and the sky, enhancing the likelihood of rainfall. With thoughtful urban planning, we can rejuvenate reservoirs, bolster dams and champion a greener, climate-resilient future,” she added.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
