Abstract: In control and management of urban rainwater, rational rainwater system planning is critical to improvement on runoff control effect and utilization benefit of rainwater. This paper summarizes two different perspectives－pattern guide and goal guide－commonly used in the planning of low impact development rainwater systems in sponge city construction, and discusses the principles, steps, advantages and disadvantages of each method. Results show problems remain in the planning and research of these systems in China, such as difficult coordination between the space planning and scale of a rainwater system, lack of a site condition comparison system for different low impact development facilities, insufficient analysis of stakeholder preferences for such a system, and deficiencies in the cost-benefit assessment systems for the facilities.

Key words: low impact development, rainwater system, runoff control, cost effective, sponge city