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Comparative Assessment of Sponge City Constructing in Public Awareness, Xi’an, China

Climate change and urbanization are causing increasingly frequent urban flooding in countries around the world. Various innovative approaches have emerged to address this challenge. In China, the Sponge City was first proposed in 2012 to achieve an urban hydrological balance through natural storage, natural infiltration and natural purification. This article presents a comparative investigation (using a survey method) of new and old communities in Xixian New District and Xi’an in September 2021 to investigate public awareness of the Sponge City and understand levels of satisfaction and acceptance. Individuals of the same age or education residing in the Sponge City generally know more about the Sponge City and were more willing to accept it than those in traditional cities. Moreover, the residents of Sponge City understand the Sponge City concept well, with a majority of the respondents (71.82%) expressing clear understanding on the conception of Sponge City. However, residents in a traditional city exhibited much less understanding of the concept (44.24%). Furthermore, for those living in the same area, people who are younger or have higher education exhibited a clearer understanding of and acceptance of the Sponge City and local government. In this survey, the average scores (assign values to the different responses, then average and percent it) of respondents in Xixian New District with master’s degrees, bachelor’s degrees and high school degrees or below were evaluated at 76.88, 67.94 and 62.15, respectively, compared to 62.07, 50.18 and 50.78 in Xi’an. Lastly, we found that differences in living environment have a significant influence on residents’ perceptions. Residents living in the Sponge City are generally satisfied with the travel and living conditions and greatly support the local government. Meanwhile, this study will help relevant authorities pay more attention to residents’ opinions and help them to formulate policies to spread the concept of Sponge City and encourage residents’ participation.