Sponge Cities: The Urban Design That Stops Floods Before They Start

What if cities absorbed floods instead of fighting them? “Sponge cities” flip a century of urban planning on its head — using parks, green roofs, and restored wetlands to soak up rainwater like a sponge, instead of rushing it downstream into someone else’s disaster. We break down how China turned this into national policy after 2013, why Shenzhen became a decade-long test case, and why the best disaster response might be the emergency that never happens at all. Subscribe to Disaster Health Diaries for more on how disaster response really works.