Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 12 hours ago
🧽 Can cities become more like sponges? Here's why it matters for our future 🌧️🌿
44% of disaster events are flood-related — and climate change is making rainfall and heat in cities more intense.
But what if cities could absorb water instead of pushing it away?
🌍 The Global Sponge Cities Snapshot is redefining urban resilience.
Instead of relying solely on concrete and pipes, it measures how cities can use natural infrastructure — like green spaces and absorbent soils — to manage water, reduce emissions, and boost biodiversity.
With the help of AI, soil science, and runoff analysis, this approach helps cities:
✅ Prevent flooding
✅ Improve public health
✅ Restore ecosystems
✅ Build long-term climate resilience
It’s time to make our cities softer, smarter, and stronger.
Let’s build spongier cities for a drier, wetter world.
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Subscribe to UNDRR on YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UCUw0G3AdE_0EDhcDPlJtJyA?sub_confirmation=1
Captions: Where possible we provide additional captions to make our videos more accessible to those who use assistive technology, such as screen readers. If you don't require the captions they can be toggled off using the CC button, usually at the bottom of the video display.
About UNDRR:
The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) has a big ambition: to help decision-makers across the globe better understand and act on risk. At UNDRR, we believe there is no such thing as a natural disaster. A natural hazard, such as a hurricane, earthquake, tsunami, or flood, only becomes a disaster when it impacts a community that is not adequately protected and whose population is vulnerable as a result of poverty, exclusion, or social disadvantage. We envision a world where disasters no longer threaten the well-being of people and the future of the planet. Sustainable development and the 2030 Agenda cannot be achieved without working towards the goal of building resilience.
Learn more about UNDRR: undrr.org
Learn more about disaster risk reduction: preventionweb.net
Sign up for updates: undrr.org/subscribe-undrr-updates
Follow:
linkedin.com/company/undrr
twitter.com/UNDRR
facebook.com/unisdr
🧽 Can cities become more like sponges? Here's why it matters for our future 🌧️🌿
44% of disaster events are flood-related — and climate change is making rainfall and heat in cities more intense.
But what if cities could absorb water instead of pushing it away?
🌍 The Global Sponge Cities Snapshot is redefining urban resilience.
Instead of relying solely on concrete and pipes, it measures how cities can use natural infrastructure — like green spaces and absorbent soils — to manage water, reduce emissions, and boost biodiversity.
With the help of AI, soil science, and runoff analysis, this approach helps cities:
✅ Prevent flooding
✅ Improve public health
✅ Restore ecosystems
✅ Build long-term climate resilience
It’s time to make our cities softer, smarter, and stronger.
Let’s build spongier cities for a drier, wetter world.
************
Subscribe to UNDRR on YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UCUw0G3AdE_0EDhcDPlJtJyA?sub_confirmation=1
Captions: Where possible we provide additional captions to make our videos more accessible to those who use assistive technology, such as screen readers. If you don't require the captions they can be toggled off using the CC button, usually at the bottom of the video display.
About UNDRR:
The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) has a big ambition: to help decision-makers across the globe better understand and act on risk. At UNDRR, we believe there is no such thing as a natural disaster. A natural hazard, such as a hurricane, earthquake, tsunami, or flood, only becomes a disaster when it impacts a community that is not adequately protected and whose population is vulnerable as a result of poverty, exclusion, or social disadvantage. We envision a world where disasters no longer threaten the well-being of people and the future of the planet. Sustainable development and the 2030 Agenda cannot be achieved without working towards the goal of building resilience.
Learn more about UNDRR: undrr.org
Learn more about disaster risk reduction: preventionweb.net
Sign up for updates: undrr.org/subscribe-undrr-updates
Follow:
linkedin.com/company/undrr
twitter.com/UNDRR
facebook.com/unisdr
