How China's Flood-Proof Mega Cities Work | Earth Explained!

⏯ 📺 How to Turn Sea Water Into Fresh Water Without Pollution: • How to Turn Sea Water ...
China is facing a host of water-related problems, especially in rapidly growing urban areas. But an innovative new concept known as the Sponge City is trying to tackle the issue. By carefully managing rain and wastewater, it aims to fight water pollution, scarcity, and flooding.
China has chosen 30 key trial locations, including Haikou and Jinhua. But is it really possible to meet the water demands of megacities like Shenzhen? And, if so, could Sponge Cities be the future of urban water management?
There are alternative ways to manage scarce water resources, including techniques like desalination. Learn more in our video: • How to Turn Sea Water ... . And subscribe to our channel to make sure you never miss an episode!
Chapters:
00:00 Intro: Droughts & Floods in China: Green Revolution
01:19 Rapid Urbanization in China: Challenges
02:15 Sponge Cities Explained
03:07 Kongijan Yu: The Concept of Sponge Cities
04:14 Haikou, Hainan: An Example
04:43 Shenzhen: History
05:49 Water Scarcity Problems in Shezhen (Dongjiang River Drought)
06:27 Shenzhen Sponge City
06.57 Outro: A look into the future
** Sources **
1. United Nations: China - President Addresses United Nations General Debate, 76th Session (English) • 🇨🇳 China - President A...
2. Urbanization in China 1980-2021: www.statista.com/statistics/2...
3. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health: www.researchgate.net/publicat...
4. Our Cities | Timelapse in Google Earth: • Our Cities | Timelapse...
5. Sponge city practice in China: A review of construction, assessment, operational and maintenance - School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China: www.sciencedirect.com/science...
6. Ideas On Design: Kongjian Yu - Big Feet Revolution: • Kongjian Yu - Big Feet...
7. Turenscape - Meishe River Greenway and Fengxiang Park: www.turenscape.com/en/project...
8. CGTN - Dongjiang River water, Hong Kong's lifeblood: news.cgtn.com/news/2021-03-12...

[@UniSolJeroen]

Living as a foreigner in Chongqing, China, one of the 30 sponge cities, for almost a decade, I didn't know this. But now things make sense. Now I know why the city has become so much more green in the past few years and why many natural parks have arisen within the city and on the edges of the two large rivers dividing the city. People have many more places to be with nature and go outdoors in what used to be a concrete mega city. It's great to see the green return.

[@stevebennett9839]

This sounds like a great plan to me. I didn't know that 94% of China lived so close together, that's pretty amazing. Thank you for another great video and teaching me something new.

[@Didacmmv]

Keep in mind that's the Chinese government data, which in the case of rural populations and the one child policy many of them are totally undocumented in order to survive, essentially, which might be as big a % as one could imagine, I honestly from a perspective of a layman would argue that a majority of Chinese still live in rural areas but who knows, maybe in this instance the Chinese government isn't lying BIG.

[@lenafromterramater3690]

We are very happy to hear that you could learn so much from our new video and that you enjoyed watching 😊 Thank you Steve!

[@gwho]

You don't even know the plan. It didn't explain how sponginess works, its properties, its cost, etc.

[@obsidianstatue]

@@Didacmmv What are you even on about? Rural population has never been under the one child policy

[@Didacmmv]

@@obsidianstatue Right, they had 2, still.

[@yongjianyi3556]

In 2008, I thought that China would end up eventually as an industrial wasteland. This was from a casual observation of the practices in Donguan and Shenzhen. I am glad to see that they escaped what at that time seems almost inevitable.

[@davidturner4076]

China IS an industrial wasteland.

[@davidturner4076]

@@prasanth2601 and your point is?

[@lenafromterramater3690]

This concept really seems to make a huge change to these cities 🌱

[@tritium1998]

Britain and America looked like industrial wastelands despite having smaller cities.

[@davidturner4076]

@@tritium1998 America never had nearly as much pollution as China. Even LA in the 1970s was much cleaner than Chinese cities today.

[@LeeFav.]

When its all about eco friendly stuff, It's good to know about it..!

[@lenafromterramater3690]

That is true, we are happy to be able to share these things with all of you! 😊♻️🌱

[@Kram1032]

Interesting. The first time I heard of roughly this concept (but it wasn't called Sponge City) was some other city, I think it was in Germany?, where this wasn't a policy per se, but it just so happened that they built it that way, and they observed how much better runoff is there, and how much less flooding there is. Sadly I forgot what city exactly it was. I wonder if that served as inspiration or they came up with the concept independently

[@123ricardo210]

This concept isn't that new of innovative. There's been loads of similar ideas for a while in countries like Germany and especially the Netherlands. The main difference is the scale at which it's being done

[@lenafromterramater3690]

Great to hear that! It is important that this idea has sparked all around the globe 🌍

[@arminius6506]

I also heard about media on KZbin and it was a German city. More like a small neighborhood

[@antoniopacelli]

That is a wonderful response to the other project of moving 10000000m3 of Sea water a day to be desalinated into the desert.. It seems they were already getting ready for becoming a New Rainforest.

[@lenafromterramater3690]

It is good to see that there are many different approaches that exist with regards to this topic - good to hear that you liked our new video 😊

[@kevinmusyoka5940]

Really interesting film. Liked and shared. 👍

[@lenafromterramater3690]

Wow thank you so much Kevin! This means a lot to us as a team! 😊🌱

[@tengkualiff]

Now is the best time for sustainable development 👍🏻 At least we are finally hearing good news from China about environmental solutions.

[@lenafromterramater3690]

That is true, the time is now! ♻️

[@tengkualiff]

@@lenafromterramater3690 yep!

[@Hirari103]

Very intriguing concept! The aerial shots starting from 3:20 are amazing ~~~

[@Life_42]

I love sponge cities!

[@lenafromterramater3690]

Great to hear! 😊

[@daddyleon]

et's massively expand upon the sponge city: have elevation differences, so that water can sit there during heacy rain without flooding your cellars and ground floors; have streams, rivers, and even canels meander through your city (not only good for water management and natural barriers, not just for recreation, but it can even be used for an alternate form of transport if need be).

[@Joaosantos15]

Very interesting video indeed. Kudos! :)

[@lenafromterramater3690]

Thank you so much João! This means a lot to our team! 😊

[@johnnyjohnnyjohnny11]

Meanwhile here in the Philippines government just give up on our Capitals major river and just put a fucking expressway on it.

[@simplepixel5617]

Interesting. Never knew of this. Great video!

[@lenafromterramater3690]

We think so too! Thank you so much! 😊

[@aghyaat2625]

Wow !!! Nice ! We must learn 👍

[@terramater]

Hi, Agh! We're happy to hear that! Thanks for watching! :)

[@aniksamiurrahman6365]

Thanks for the video, dude. Sounds like there is at least some hope for humanity.

[@sleepyjoe4529]

I lived in Shenzhen for a few years pre-covid...and holy crap did that place change. It really is an amazing city.

[@lenafromterramater3690]

This is great to hear! Thank you for sharing Joe 😊

[@marinawahl6727]

great video. thanks for the education💚

[@terramater]

Hi, Marina! We're happy to hear that! Thanks for watching! :)

[@trillionbones89]

How does that concept, especially the permeable asphalt work in regards to frost? In colder climates these are often the main cause for road damage. It's of course a minor problem compared to water supply and flooding, but it seems like having water *inside* asphalt during frost is not a good idea

[@valerievankerckhove9325]

The dumb answer to this is... there is no frost in most of these regions. These places are pretty warm.

[@NightPhoenix.Y]

most places that flood are in the tropics so it really isn't the concern also the northern parts are arid they want to keep water there.

[@pranavnair2616]

Very nice information 👌👍

[@terramater]

Hi Pranav! Thanks for watching! :)

[@pranavnair2616]

@@terramater Awesome work 👍

[@abcd-sr4ov]

Amazing

[@lenafromterramater3690]

Right?! 🏠

[@kuitaranheatmorus9932]

Epic video

[@lenafromterramater3690]

Wow thank you so much! Kudos to the team! 😊

[@KamiThulak]

Considering Watersaving this seems like a good idea. However to me it seems like it`ll have some major drawbacks. Road build with permeable material are generaly less durable, leading to faster wear and thus worse roads. Having a soil-sponge under a skyscraper seems like a bad idea since erosion also happens underground. I also dont quite see how water would be drained in a controlled manner from the "sponge" Does anyone have sources with deeper clarification of issues such as the ones i mentioned?

[@richardbidinger2577]

Maybe use large pumps to drain the water. I've seen videos where they have some kind of permeable membrane to put down between layers of asphalt to increase the longevity of the road. Something like that might help. A lot of NY City is built on unstable ground. In the event of a good sized earthquake, much of the city would sink because of liquefaction, so, I would think the sponge city would be the same. As far as keeping the buildings upright, there's any number of things they could try. With the road, they could always stick with standard materials and just do permeable everywhere else. I have no idea how to deal with underground erosion, however, if their need for water is that severe, maybe pumping the water out might be enough to keep the ground stable.

[@madhujitharumugam9161]

mate if you can think of this by just watching this video, i am pretty sure the 100's of professors, engineers and other people who worked on this sponge city concept would have already thought about it and come up with a solution.

[@KamiThulak]

@@madhujitharumugam9161 I doubt any of them are watching a YT-Video about the mater. I dont care wether they know or not. I want to know

[@amadoujalloh1932]

U deserve more subscribers

[@istoppedlaughing5225]

Best video

[@user-fs3ny5dr1b]

where can i get the isometric 3D models of sponge city from 2:15

[@nil981]

Terra mater is to environmentalists what coldfusion is to silicon valley tech nerds.

[@antoniopacelli]

Unreachable if not helped?

[@WanderTheNomad]

Hype

[@Kiyoone]

Great content!! There is some people in India that applies this concept in their villages as well!! It was success!!! There, people suffered because of pollution too, but they did manage to restore the water quality in some areas where they implemented the program.

[@lenafromterramater3690]

Thank you! Wow this sounds interesting though, do you know how the villages were called? 😊

[@Eleora1997Msia]

eco system change so much when city had built... i feel bad for wildlife

[@j2174]

Why not actually design buildings to catch, store, and slowly release water as well?

[@SchnippiTheCat]

video!

[@tajammulsiddiq9880]

Good Content. It's good to see that China is doing these Environmental friendly projects. Preserving and Reusing the Fresh Water is the only way to resolve the Water Crisis around the World. Other ways like desalination requires lot of energy, resources and also produces lots of Brine (Waste) which is dumped into oceans causing threat to Marine life/ Ecology of Oceans. We can hope that All countries in the World give much importance in Preserving and Reusing the Fresh Water resources.

[@lenafromterramater3690]

Thank you Tajammul for your words! We are also very happy to be able to share content like this with all of our great green-thinking community 🌱 #terramatters

[@tajammulsiddiq9880]

@@lenafromterramater3690 You're welcome 🙂

[@flamingcoop]

It’s just another name for ‘water senstive urban design’ is it not?

[@quitlife9279]

Looks like the exact same old concept, but apparently this is "conceived" in 2013 by the Chinese" lol. They should have at least mentioned WSUD, it's not new or Chinese.

[@calebchoo896]

If you still corrupt and do tofu projects, you sponge city will become tofu city. 😂🤣😆

[@chi-jenyang9752]

They don't.

[@igorbukovy4313]

Problem of our society is that it is based on economical pillar and that is a fatal mistake because nature works on totaly different principles and we are dependant on nature. Go to hell with aquaponics and other non-senses. We have to change our way of life and society, ecology must be the main pillar!!! Also increasing population is a big problem. I decided to have no kids. What is your choice for better future?

[@Kiyoone]

Jeez you got mad about aquaponics? I have a better one for you to be pissed: What do you think about places that plant sugar cane to make fuel for cars? Instead of food

[@igorbukovy4313]

@@Kiyoone To be clear I do not like aquaponics in halls under artificial lighting.

[@hobosorcerer]

It sounds like very little is actually being done on this front...

[@kandam5517]

china has done it again

[@gwho]

Wth you didn't even explain how the sponginess works, what it's built from, if you'll have to tear up existing concrete, how the water is extracted out again for reuse... Might as well just type the text " sponge city" and have no video at all

[@AALL99999]

The core of Chinese culture is about “God cannot help me, we help ourselves”. So they the talk less but do more.

[@yejundoyun4513]

Heaven help those who help themselves

[@arislopes1924]

This concept is nothing new, the Spanish and Portuguese have been implementing something similar to their architecture in colonial times in order to deal with the new climate and weather pattern of the tropics they had built ditches along cobblestone streets and raise their buildings from ground level they also build slopped gable roofs. Large houses had large green central courtyards where all the water would be absorbed by the ground and roads were build with small slopes to let water run in one direction. They built ditches and canals where all the water would flow and flow away from the town. Some of these ditches still serve their purpose today. In the colonial town of São joao do reí in brasil there’s a huge canal with a central ditch to get water out the city build by the Portuguese

[@Joe90V]

The concept that was "conceived" in 2013 by the Chinese ha been a recognised practice in the Netherlands for decades 🤣

[@simonjames9481]

Netherlands don't have sponge cities

[@Joe90V]

@@simonjames9481 Every Dutch city is. You wouldn't know, you're not Dutch.

[@simonjames9481]

@@Joe90V Lol Netherlands doesnt have any sponge cities. All cities in Netherlands are concrete nightmare.

[@willemvanoranje5724]

We could really use these cities in the Netherlands! I admire China's long term thinking.. It's something the West lacks. On the other hand China lacks a lot of basic freedoms... Why can't we just combine the good of these boths xD

[@Brown95P]

What they don't tell you in this video is that China is the pioneer and leader in "tofu-dreg projects" (look it up, it's utterly baffling) thanks to their severe lack of standards and regulations in the making of urban infrastructures... which also contribute heavily to more damaging floods as a result. Sponge cities are really just an extravagant answer to the problems they brought upon themselves, and if you think they're doing it to better the world, you can think again, for as long as China emits more greenhouse gases than the entirety of the developed world _combined_ -- in no small part due to it abusing loopholes in order to burn as much coal as possible -- whatever they say in regards to a cleaner world will be nothing more than a bald-faced lie.

[@sleepyjoe4529]

Because the West values personal freedoms that often conflict with the great good of society, which is what East Asian cultures value (esp China and Japan).

[@sleepyjoe4529]

@@Brown95P the whole tofu-dreg projects is an outdated form of doing business -- most of those projects took place when corruption was rampant. After Xi came to power, he cracked down hard on corruption so projects like those have been decreasing drastically. Western media is always behind in understanding China because they're always talking about issues from 10 or even 20 years back -- it can't keep up with the society and ideological changes within China.

[@Brown95P]

@@sleepyjoe4529 The only form of "corruption" Xinnie Jinpoong cracked down on is the kind coming from the political rival faction of toad-faced Jiang Zemin; nothing has changed in the end, and nothing will so long as the CCP is still standing.

[@sleepyjoe4529]

@@Brown95P It's not mutually exclusive. Corruption is corruption no matter which faction. Don't be so narrow minded with the REEEEEEEEEEE CCP BAD THEREFORE NOTHING EVER CHANGES IN THAT PARTY EVER. It's annoying.

[@phuckyoutube5927]

Haha

[@jow999]

This idea is nice of new projects but the current city's that are been build, can't use this concept. Just imagine a skyscraper bobbing up and down for multiple years. Cracks would form after just a few years and the safety of several of these buildings couldn't be guaranteed after a decade or so... On the other hand... It's a great way to force people into rebuilding city's with water in mind.

[@matthewdolan5831]

Unfortunately the rate of projected sea level rise will overwhelm these thoughtful projects. I expect at least 5 metre sea level rise by 2070 based on Greenland, Antarctica and expansion, the first metre being acheived around 2040, moving into 10CM+ pa thenceforth. Check Paul Beckwith's channel for an assessment of sea level rise. Moving is the only valid strategy.

[@offline7620]

Megalomanie

[@lukewengongzuoshi]

封面地图少了台湾省

[@user-qj6lj4iq2b]

Didn't know terra matter was a fan of the great leap backwards.

[@Kiyoone]

Nah, chinese are not japanese...

[@antoniopacelli]

Hirohito mon amour... The biggest jump Japan ever made was made by Lupin III

[@sleepyjoe4529]

Don't make us nuke you again.

[@quitlife9279]

Water Sensitive Urban Design is not new or Chinese, are you guys getting paid by the Chinese government?