The sponge city is a way of visualising how water should be absorbed and travel through an urban environment.

Instead of rushing the water away, a sponge city absorbs and keeps it in the landscape. But how do we plan for sponge cities when the city or town has already evolved to rush water away? It starts with benchmarking: assessing how water sensitive a community already is and asks what else councils might do to progress.

We discuss how ISJO started and constructed its benchmarking process and share insights from other councils that have successfully engaged their communities in water sensitive practices. 

In this episode we hear from:

• Jan Orton - Senior Consultant from Mosaic Insights working with ISJO on benchmarking
• Natalia McGregor - Manager of the Environment team with the City of Shellharbour
• Emma Struys - WSUD Project Manager for ISJO