IFAT | Sponge City

Increasing weather extremes are causing global cities to rethink. Heavy rainfall, flooding and longer periods of heat are becoming a challenge. Berlin has founded its own rainwater agency for this purpose. It is located at the water utilities and is intended to support administration, planners and citizens in the implementation of new rainwater management. The aim is to make Berlin more water-sensitive and climate-adapted.

We've got green roofs or green facades here. Rainwater is collected in cisterns, which can be used as process water. And rainwater, for example, can seep away. Here, we have roadside troughs or blind drain systems.

The solution: planted house facades, green house roofs and track beds. Rainwater is absorbed like a sponge. That's why we're talking about Sponge City. When it is hot, the water evaporates and cools, when it rains heavily it simply seeps into the ground.

The term "Sponge City" actually describes it quite well, because we no longer want to drain the rainwater through the sewage system, but want to keep it in the city and manage it. This means evaporating, seeping away, buffering in soil and plants and using the water.

The latest technologies for climate-friendly water management will be presented at IFAT 2020 in Munich.