How do construct a sponge city that can improve residents' satisfaction? Evidence from a suburb of Huizhou City, China

The construction of the sponge city can effectively alleviate the problems of urban waterlogging and pollution and promote the city's sustainable development. However, few studies on sponge city construction take into account both natural background conditions and resident satisfaction. This study considers both physical and psychological benefits and presents a new integrated theoretical framework to improve urban runoff quality and the well-being of residents. The developed framework consists of two parts: sponge city control space identification and optimization design. The control space suitable for sponge city construction was identified, using the Eco-Importance-Resident Satisfaction Analysis (EIRSA) methodology, and the relationship between the basic needs of suburban residents and the current ecosystem service capacity was explored. The Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) method was used to optimize the design of the identified control space. The resident subjective visions and sponge city construction goals were used to determine the construction area and type of LID using GIS and the Storm Water Management Model (SWMM). The proposed framework was then applied to a suburb of Huizhou City, China, as a case study. This study analyzed the physical and psychological benefits of sponge city design schemes with different rainfall scenarios (S1, S2, S3, and S4) for the LID construction project. The results identified this scheme had met 90% or more of the region's volume capture ratio of annual rainfall constraints. Furthermore, >60% of the respondents were content with our planning scheme, with 21% being extremely satisfied, compared to only 2.1% satisfied, and 0.7% very satisfied. Considering the trade-off between ecological importance and resident satisfaction, it is a feasible strategy to build a sponge city that can improve residents' well-being in the future. The findings of this paper provide a detailed decision-making basis for the construction of sponge city in suburban areas.