Constructing a ‘Sponge City’ - a Solution to the In-City Sea’

那天，無意中發現一份名叫"羊城日報"的報紙，被一篇文章標題所吸引，溜灠了一會，發現所帶出的環保概念非常正面，以下是文章的翻譯版本，希望和大家 - 特別是關注環保問題的朋友 - 分享。

As in most of the cities, cement is used in large quantities for road solidification in Zhuhai. More and more of the lawns, channels and green fields have been converted into roads. With the increase in area of impermeable surfaces, the drainability of the roads is becoming worse and worse. Besides, to maintain the scenic landscape, almost all the green fields are above the surrounding areas. Once it starts raining, the rain water tends to pool on the road surface. The green fields, which are supposed to be capable of moderating the drainage speed, cannot function effectively, thus adding to the pressure from flood discharge.

As a coastal city, Zhuhai has frequent rain and yearly typhoons. And each time a rainstorm occurs, the result is usually the flooding of the streets. 

According to the ‘Zduhai Green Infrastructure (GI) (Green Project in brief); Zduhai is  rich in water resources, of which, however, only 38% are exploited. Frequent urban floods are closely related to the city’s loss of the ‘breathing ability’. According to the designer of wood landscape and urban planner, the soil of the city ought to be like a sponge with the ability to absorb and store water, which, when the weather turns hot and dry, can evaporate (breathe out), the way a human lung can function, thus regulating the water quantity of the whole city.  

In 2014, following the suggestion of the Housing Department, Zduhai, which has been dedicated to developing into an internationally habitable city, started initiating a plan of constructing a “sponge city”. 

The main reason for urban inward drainage is to enable the rain water to drain and dry instead of gathering in low lying regions. According to the people related to Zduhai’s Urban Council and Lumbering Department, the “sponge city” will make full use of the ability of saving water of the green fields, rivers and other ecological systems. This is especially true of the sunken green areas, which enable rain water to flow in, thus forming a natural ‘reservoir ’ that can perform the function of moderating and minimizing the amount of water flowing into the urban drainage system, thus reducing the pressure of flood discharge.

Having gone through the ecological or chemical process of collection and treatment, the rain water has achieved the standard quality and can be applied to use in the ecological environment, various urban uses, greenery, etc. The one responsible for the landscape and architectural design suggests that in the construction of embankments, the solidification of the protective banks can be replaced with more green areas, rain parks, ecological ditches all along as a target towards building a ‘sponge system’, so as to turn the city into a ‘reservoir’ of high capacity, minimizing the harm done to ecology.

According to the related plan, Zduhai’s residential buildings, roads, parking lots, parks, squares, service districts, industrial districts and warehouse districts will all make use of permeable surfacing, green rooftops, plant retaining channels, sunken green fields, water storage tanks, ecological plantations, grass planting ditches, etc.

Among them the newly built sunken green residential areas should occupy no less than 50% of the city area, permeable paving should not be less than 75%, the green rooftops of the newly constructed district should not be less than 20%. On various roads, there will be the use of permeable road paving or water permeable tiles. In areas surrounding the open parking lots, in particular, there will be sunken green fields such as rain parks, grass planting ditches. Excessive rain water will be directed to the surrounding green areas, where it will sink. There will also be rain collecting areas, where the rain, after proper treatment, will be used for watering plants and for irrigation in the green belts. 

According to the experts, Zduhai has plentiful rain. The green area per capita is the first in the world. The river network is widespread, and there is a high capacity of water storage. All this is the concrete base for building a ‘sponge’ city. 

According to the project concerned, the new Huengchin (橫琴) district, and the ecological zone in the west will be turned into a demonstration zone for the Zduhai Sponge City.

The two questions

 

It is with great joy and gratitude that I recall my experience of coordinating three talks on the “Letters of St. Paul”. I still feel the satisfaction from having accomplished a challenging task, to which I had devoted about two months’ preparation. 

When Fr. Peter did the round-up at the end of my presentation, he asked me two questions. Quite taken aback and not having quite recovered from the excitement of the talk, I said something which did not quite make sense; at least it made little sense to me when I recall the whole matter now. I think I owe him and everyone of the attendants that evening a more thoughtful and more sincere answer.  

The first question was how much I had acquired from my preparation for the three talks. Well, to talk about the great benefit from it, I must first tell how I actually did the preparation. I started with flipping through a book I had borrowed. I was at first put off by the simplified Chinese characters and decided that I would not be making much use of it. I then switched to online browsing instead and was amazed at the discovery of several well written articles closely related to the assigned topics. Having thus decided on the main focuses of my talks, I was able to devise the initial plan. I then read the articles in detail, trying to decide on the points to be included. The points were then organized, evaluated and then reorganized for the presentation. Of course, the content of the articles was not all that was needed. To elaborate the chosen points, I referred to several other books for related details. Even the book I had at first disregarded did provide some useful information. The most important was, of course, to get back to the reading of the Bible, and, thus inspired, I proceeded to work on the enhancement of my plan with more confidence. In addition, I derived tremendous joy from drafting the powerpoint presentation. It was a great delight to match the text with vivid, attractive illustrations. And I was still polishing it during the final hour before the presentation. When asked what part of the preparation work I found most challenging, I would say it was the attempt to commit to memory all the important details. This ought not to have posed much difficulty with the help of the slides, but still there were facts and concepts that could easily slip off the mind. So I recorded my reading of the script, topic by topic, and I listened to the recording repeatedly to familiarize myself with the details. This proved quite effective, for during the presentation, I felt words flowing out without much effort on my part.  

So, what have I acquired? Undoubtedly, I have learned a lot. Reading the Bible, as I now realize, is not simply reading stories. We should not be content with knowing just what happened. It is worth spending time pondering the verses to see how some situations can be interpreted differently with relevance to the background and the sequence of incidents. The writers of the articles I used for reference explained so well that I now understand much better about St. Paul’s boasting of his weakness. We who tend to seek a sense of superiority through showing off our strength should learn to identify the power derived from suffering for Christ’s sake and to feel God’s comfort so that we can also learn to comfort others. Of course, these are concepts that demand very careful thinking. Despite all that preparation work I have done, I won’t claim to grab even a little of St. Paul’s thoughts. However, I am sure I can read the rest of his letters with more interest and confidence. I must also extend my appreciation for the effort of the writers. When my friends complimented me on my presentation, often for politeness’ sake, I said inwardly a word of thanks to those able writers.  

Father Peter next asked me how my preparation had affected my faith. In my immediate response, I mentioned the chest pain that had been bothering me over the past weeks. It reminded me, I said, of the thorn in St. Paul’s flesh. St. Paul had begged God to have the thorn removed but he was later convinced that the pain was there to remind him to glorify God. My chest pain is partially the result of the stress from my preparation for the talks. I believe the pain may still be felt occasionally even after it has been cured. And it will always be part of the treasured memory of my talks.  I will also remember St. Paul’s remark that weakness is the cost of apostleship. So when doing evangelical work, we should bear in mind that we are the containers only and the Word of God, which is contained, is what matters. We are not to seek applause through displaying our wisdom and talents such as eloquence of speech. While we may attract others with good powerpoint presentation skills, our main target is proclaim the Word of God. In fact, there is so much to learn from the wisdom in St, Paul’s concept about boasting of his weakness and about being united with Christ’s suffering. 

I feel gratified for having had the opportunity to share about St.Paul’s Letters. It will be an experience to treasure for the rest of my life. It will also be a useful reminder of my responsibilities as a follower of Jesus Christ.