Parks, roofs and riverbanks mimicking the long-used agricultural form are helping Asian cities absorb, hold and purify rainwater.
One of Kotchakorn Voraakhom's most memorable moments growing up in Bangkok in the 1980s was playing in floodwaters in a small boat built by her father in front of her home.
"I was so happy that I didn't need to go to school because we didn't know how to get to it," recalls Voraakhom, a landscape architect based in the Thai capital.
But nearly 30 years later, flooding turned from a fun childhood recollection to a devastating experience. In 2011, Voraakhom and her family – along with millions of others in Bangkok – found themselves "displaced and homeless" when floods ploughed through swathes of Thailand and poured into the metropolis.
They were the country's worst floods in decades, a nationwide disaster which lasted more than three months and killed more than 800 people. Scientists later linked the flooding to increased rainfall triggered by human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. Continue reading
Comments