sponge city
Americannoun
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sponge cities
plural
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a type of urban planning model which emphasizes the management of flooding and stormwater through green infrastructure.
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a city which uses an urban planning model emphasizing the management of flooding and stormwater through green infrastructure.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
This approach, said Yu, has made sponge city projects uncomplicated and low-cost compared with conventional solutions, deployable just about anywhere.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2025
The floods prompted Chinese leader Xi Jinping to adopt Yu’s sponge city philosophy as a national agenda in 2015.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2025
In 2015, China launched a "sponge city" pilot project to reduce water-logging and to prevent floods, with permeable asphalt and pavements among the potential technological solutions.
From Reuters ● Jul. 5, 2023
In April, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development announced some cities had “insufficient awareness, inaccurate understanding, and unsystematic implementation of sponge city construction.”
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 14, 2022
The approach is similar to the "sponge city" concept that is being rolled out in several Chinese cities, where floods could become something residents embrace rather than fear.
From BBC ● Nov. 12, 2021
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
