Home » Opinion » Foreign Views
Sustainable cities start with water management
Print Edition
PROFESSOR Tony Wong is an expert in dealing with climate extremes and urban environments. Thanks to his endeavors, the world is paying attention to Australia’s approach to water sensitive urban design.
Australia is known as a country of droughts and flooding rains, so it is no surprise that it has become a global leader when it comes to dealing with climate extremes and urban environments.
“Water sensitive urban design is in fact an Australian concept,” says Professor Tony Wong, one of the field’s pioneers.
An enthusiastic advocate of bio-mimicry — or replicating natural processes — in urban landscapes, Professor Wong heads the internationally renowned Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities (CRCWSC) based at Melbourne’s Monash University.
Its focus is researching and prototyping ways to revolutionize water management in cities in Australia and overseas.
“Technology, or engineering, or water engineering itself is not going to be able to solve some of the grand challenges in our cities related to climate change (and) sustainability,” says Professor Wong. “What is required and what I am really fortunate in being able to lead is a team that brings together knowledge and expertise from across multiple disciplines.”
Artificial wetlands that cleanse suburban rain water for reuse, and vertical urban gardens that also capture and filter rain are just two examples of the concepts the CRCWSC investigates. And the world is taking notice.
Sponge cities
In 2015 China’s central government announced that 16 urban districts across China would become “sponge cities” — cities that will incorporate water sensitive design elements like wetlands and permeable roads to utilize rainfall and prevent flooding. The move follows the success of demonstration projects developed by Professor Wong’s Cooperative Research Centre in Kunshan, a city west of Shanghai.
The signing of a partnership agreement with the Asian Development Bank will see the CRCWSC have an increasing impact on infrastructure investment in the Asia Pacific region. “Our role is to continue to create a greater audience for the signs and the proof-of-concept that we do in our center, but in the end the impact is what ultimately matters,” says Professor Wong.
Whilst the challenges of creating sustainable cities may seem overwhelming, for Professor Tony Wong it all comes down to remembering the very human need to connect with nature.
Carmel O’Keeffe is Senior Digital Content Manager, ABC International.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
