- Title: Berlin architects battle climate change with sponge cities
- Date: 8th March 2019
- Summary: SCHMIDT WALKING BY WATER PUMPS SCHMIDT WALKING INTO ROOM WITH WATER RESERVOIR WATER RESERVOIR VARIOUS OF CAFE NEXT TO RAINWATER COLLECTION POND (SOUNDBITE) (German) LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT AT BERLIN TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY AND CO-DEVELOPER OF POTSDAMER PLATZ RAINWATER MANAGEMENT, MARCO SCHMIDT, SAYING: "What we are trying to compensate here locally is also happening on a global s
- Embargoed: 22nd March 2019 10:06
- Keywords: climate change sponge city water retention heavy rainfall rainwater collection natural water circulation
- Location: BERLIN & MAERKISCHE HEIDE, GERMANY
- City: BERLIN & MAERKISCHE HEIDE, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Environment,Climate Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA003A55SLDZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Tourists are strolling along a pond at Potsdamer Platz square right in the middle of Germany's capital Berlin. People working in nearby offices take a break at the cafe next to a water installation. What looks like a recreation area for busy city dwellers is much more than that - a strategy against effects of climate change such as heavy rainfall, heat waves and droughts which aims to turn parts of Berlin into a 'sponge city.'
"What happens on every single square metre when we replace vegetation with urbanised spaces, concrete and tarmac, we don't have a closed water circulation anymore," said Marco Schmidt, landscape architect and co-developer of the Potsdamer Platz rainwater management project.
According to Schmidt, less water is evaporating, leading to less rainfall and at the same time "the temperature increases significantly."
Collection reservoirs, ponds and green rooftops absorb rainwater like a sponge and during hot summers, water evaporates from there and cools down the urban space.
"What we are trying to compensate for locally is also happening on a global scale and therefore I think climate change is strongly connected to interventions with the water balance," Schmidt said.
The innovative adaption project for urban centres is just a first step. Schmidt calls it a "flagship project" which began in 1997.
In order to tackle the problems caused by climate change in cities, projects like his would have to be implemented on a large scale, said Schmidt.
"We are currently still far away from getting the problem under control. Actually, it gets worse every day."
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