Flood risk management in sponge cities: The role of integrated simulation and 3D visualization

The Sponge City concept has been promoted as a major programme of work to address increasing flood risk in urban areas, in combination with wider benefits for water resources and urban renewal. However, realization of the concept requires collaborative engagement with a wide range of professionals and with affected communities. Visualization can play an important role in this process. In this research, a sponge city flood simulation and forecasting system has been built which combines hydrological data, topographic data, GIS data and hydrodynamic models in real-time and interactive display in a three-dimensional environment. Actual and design flood events in a pilot sponge city have been simulated. The validation results show that the simulated urban water accumulation process is consistent with the actual monitoring data. Use of advanced virtual reality technology can enable simulations to be placed in the wider design context including enhanced awareness of multiple functions of urban ecosystems. This procedure can therefore reduce the information communication gap and encourage innovation regarding low impact development required for sponge city construction.