SpongeCity: Walking the Rain - An Urban Climate Walk in Wet Weather

Why SpongeCity?

The walk is inspired by the late Kongjian Yu, visionary landscape architect and creator of the sponge city concept. Yu’s work showed how cities can act like sponges, absorbing, storing, and releasing rainwater through green infrastructure, permeable surfaces, and ecological systems, rather than simply channelling it away with concrete drains.

This rain-triggered walk uses London’s streets as a living classroom to ask: How does the City respond to heavy downpours? Where does the water go? Together we will explore permeability, drainage, runoff pathways, and hydrology in action — seeing how built form, surfaces, and planting either shed or absorb the rain.

This is not a walk with a fixed date walk, it is a call to the weather walk. Over the comming weeks, we will watch the forecast and when heavy rain arrives, we will walk.

This is a weather-triggered event. The walk will take place on a Saturday morning in the City of London (from 22nd November), but only if it rains.

• Each week we watch the forecast.
• If heavy rain is expected, the walk is confirmed.
• If the weather stays dry, the event is postponed to the following Saturday.

Registered participants will receive 24–48 hours’ notice with confirmation of the date, time, and meeting point.

The focus is on rainfall, runoff, and resilience. By walking the city in wet conditions, participants will see first-hand how buildings, streets, canyons, and open spaces respond to sudden downpours.

The route will take in Urban Rain Spots, places where the City reveals its strengths and weaknesses in handling heavy downpours, from impermeable plazas to planted corridors

Together we will explore permeability, surface water management, drainage systems, and how built form shapes the city’s ability to absorb, redirect, or shed water.

• Walk the City of London in the rain, observing hydrology in real time
• Track surface permeability, runoff patterns, and ponding
• Compare impermeable vs vegetated areas and their capacity to hold water
• Reflect on how built form influences flooding, resilience, and equity
• Link observations to the sponge city vision and discuss what a 'SpongeCity London' might look like

• Date: Flexible (triggered by heavy rain over the coming weeks)
• Notice: 24–48 hours’ email notice when the event is called
• Time: Saturday morning, approx. 2–2.5 hours
• Location: City of London (Meeting point ❶ The Martha Smith Memorial Water Fountain - 39 Finsbury Square, London, England, EC2A | Finishing Point ⓫ 120 Fenchurch Street Roof Garden (if open))
• Bring: Waterproof clothing, sturdy shoes, and a willingness to embrace the weather — this event only runs in the rain

Built environment practitioners, students, community groups, and anyone interested in exploring how design, landscape, and climate resilience intersect. No prior expertise is needed, just curiosity and good rain gear.

Register to be on call, and be ready to experience London through the lens of Sponge City thinking, when the rain next falls.

The Urban Climate Walk (Established in 2014) provides a unique perspective on built environments by demonstrating the dynamic relationships between built form, climate, energy, and health and well-being across different scales. The Walk offers an opportunity to discuss the quality of spaces in terms of physical form, materiality, and social implications, as well as their influence on green, blue, and grey infrastructure and thermal comfort—all critical components of healthy, resilient cities.

Designed to teach the principles of urban climatology from an interdisciplinary perspective, the walk is suitable for anyone interested in the climates of cities. Towns and cities where the walk is established include The City of London; Paddington Basin; Fleet Street and the Inner Temple Gardens (Central London); Tottenham, Haringey (Greater London); Birmingham City Centre; Ipswich Town; Reading Town Centre, Canterbury, (UK); Cardiff Town Centre, Wales; São Paulo, Brazil; Borlänge, and Rotterdam, Netherlands; Sweden. Upcoming walks are planned for Bath, Bristol and Glasgow.

The walk takes about 2 hours, giving plenty of time for discussion. The walk can be done under all weather conditions… In fact, the harsher the conditions the more dramatic the walk …. The walk can be done under all weather conditions… In fact, the harsher the conditions the more dramatic the walk …. Sensible clothing and footwear are essential – this is not a walk in the park, its a walk in the rain!

Dr Julie Futcher (curator); is a chartered architect with significant experience in research and research-led teaching. Her research explores the direct, indirect, and dynamic influence of urban morphology in regulating the energy exchanges that characterise densely built urban landscapes. Importantly this includes the influence of built form on access to passive resources (i.e., day and sunlight and street scale ventilation), air quality and in turn, the physical outcomes on the neighbouring setting.

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Host or Publisher Julie Futcher / an Urban Generation event