In 2017, Pedro Santa served as the Lead Author / Document Coordinator for the Green Infrastructure Strategic Plan, which is part of the Rebuild by Design efforts in the New Jersey / NYC Metropolitan Area after Superstorm Sandy. The document, developed during employment at the New York City AECOM Landscape + Urban Design Studio, serves as a guideline of solutions for the 42,000 hectare Hackensack River Watershed. It describes a new resilient foundation for interdisciplinary problem solving, frames the issues and vulnerabilities of the Hackensack watershed, and provides a spectrum of holistic solutions to increase stormwater resilience, with the associated co-benefits that result through the implementation and stewardship of nature-based solutions.

The Green Infrastructure Strategic Plan is part of the Rebuild By Design Meadowlands’ effort to increase stormwater features throughout the Hackensack River watershed communities, and its goal is to show how communities can be retrofitted to incorporate water sensitive urban design tools for quantity and quality, ecological corridors, and social connectivity measures.

Credits: AECOM Landscape + Urban Design NYC Studio, 2017