ABSTRACT Sponge city is a new national strategy of urban planning to solve urban flooding. Started from the origin of the concept of sponge city, the paper addressed the key issues of the sponge city, including the resilient city, the low impact development and the sustainable resource management. It argues that sponge city offers a more sustainable solution to urban flooding problem than storm water management, and more close to the eco-city and low-carbon city theory. The idea of sponge city is original and effective in transforming the traditional model of urban storm water management in China and to protect the urban aqua-system.