The Sponge City: resilient urban infrastructure

Alex Y. Lo () and Chen Xiang ()

Chapter 8 in China's Climate Policy, 2025, pp 150-173 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Sponge cities make use of integrated nature-based and engineering solutions for managing the risks of flooding and other extreme weather events. To close the financing gaps and avoid a drain on the public purse, China's Sponge City Program encouraged the development of public-private partnerships (PPPs). Competitive top-down controls are built into the institutional design of this program. PPPs are used as a financing tool, but they have disproportionately privileged investments by private entities controlled by the state. As most players run their business under the shadow of the state, and debt financing and PPPs are no longer the favorite instruments in the government's toolbox, the built-in competitive top-down controls are given a greater role to play. Consequently, PPPs are instrumentalized as a means of easing fiscal constraints, but their widespread use has not led to a coalitional politics through which local governments and non-state actors join forces to influence state policies.

Keywords: Sponge City; Blue-Green infrastructure; Infrastructure financing; Public-private partnership; Nature-based solution; Entreprise (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035341252
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