With the acceleration of the urbanization process, a large number of land resources have been exploited and utilized, causing serious damage to the urban ecological environment. Urban rain and flood damage and non-point source pollution control limited the improvement of urban water environment in China. The theory of ‘sponge city’ was proposed based on the current urban water ecological crisis. ‘Sponge city’ is an important measure to implement the construction of ecological civilization, an inevitable requirement for urban governance innovation, and a strong support for the transformation and upgrading of the construction industry.

The construction of sponge cities mainly adopts a variety of technical approaches such as "infiltration, retention, storage, purification, utilization, and discharge" to achieve a virtuous urban hydrological cycle, improve the purification and utilization of runoff rainwater, and maintain or restore the city's sponge function. Through the sponge city construction, the city's original rivers, lakes, wetlands, pits, trenches and other ecologically sensitive areas are protected.

In combination with green building, low impact development and construction (LID) and green infrastructure (GI), the natural terrain and landforms are fully utilized to regulate rainwater runoff. Natural vegetation, soil and microorganisms are fully utilized to purify water quality. Thereby minimizing the damage to the original ecological environment caused by urban development and construction activities.

We conduct research in the following areas: case studies on sustainable urban design and management using LID-GI principles, methods to quantify benefits from the implementation of sustainable drainage systems (SuDS), rainwater reuse, practices for mitigating urban flooding and soil erosion, and the application of LID in runoff management.

• Analysis of rainstorm intensity in low recurrence period and formulation and optimization of sponge city design standards

• Study on sponge city measures in Yangtze River Delta Plain area with high groundwater level and abundant rainfall

• Comparison of rain water pollution control technology and equipment in the early stage of traffic dense roads

• Comparison of measures for rainwater reuse and cost and benefit analysis

• Multi-scale sponge city measures combination optimization