A Model for Climate-Resilient Blue-Green Drainage Infrastructure
Tseung Kwan O South Park is a large-scale pilot project for climate-adaptive landscape, integrating the Sponge City Concept (SCC) and Water-Sensitive Urban Design into its landscape and drainage systems. Spanning 3.8 hectares, the park is designed to address the city’s evolving needs through sustainability, biodiversity enhancement, and community well-being.
The Park features an advanced water management system designed to reduce flood risk and recycle water. Its goal is to capture 70% of rainwater through a network of sustainable elements, including rain gardens, bioswales, a zero irrigation garden, a detention lawn, permeable paving and an underground stormwater storage tank with a capacity of about 142 000 litres. This system is equipped with real-time sensors to collect data for tracking runoff-capture performance. Additionally, the park incorporates renewable energy solutions, such as an air-improvement photovoltaic glazing system and solar lighting, to power the lighting system and improve air quality.
The park’s large greenery coverage mitigates urban heat island effects and enhances biodiversity. Over 40 types of trees and 80 types of shrubs and groundcover are planted in the park. Flowering trees such as pink trumpet trees, Guangzhou cherry blossoms promote well-being and sense of identity while nectar plants support pollinator habitats.
The park also features inclusive recreational spaces such as accessible play zones, fitness stations and interactive sand play areas — catering to visitors of all ages and abilities, as well as educational panels aiming to raise public awareness about climate resilience & SCC with intriguing cartoon-illustrations.
Key Features
Rain gardens and bioswales store and filter rainwater, while permeable paving reduces runoff. Real-time sensors track performance on rainwater capture, setting a model for flood-resilient, sustainable blue-green infrastructure.
LEARN MORE
To combat the imminent threats of climate change, the HKSAR Government introduced the SCC in the Hong Kong’s Climate Action Plan 2030+ in 2017 and promulgated the Technical Circular (Works) No.9/2020 Blue-Green Drainage Infrastructure in 2020, setting out the policy for wider adoption of blue-green drainage infrastructure elements in the design of drainage measures for all government projects, with a view to enhancing the adaptive capacity of the drainage system to reduce surface runoff and improve water quality.
This policy brings associated benefits such as place-making, promoting urban biodiversity, improving air quality and mitigating urban heat island effect.
