The Urban Hydrologics Strategic Adaptation Framework for Tropical Watersheds has been developed from extensive research and practical experience, aiming to enhance the resilience, performance, and co-benefits for communities within the pan-tropics. The framework consists of the following components: Two contexts for Strategic Integration, Three Key Strategic Scales, and Four Key Variables.
Continue readingIntellectual Property
Towards an Urban Hydrologic Digital Twin
Urban Hydrologics embarks into Digital Twin Technology. In December 2014, we have begun drafting a white paper outlining hydrologic climate adaptation software, which links the real world to the virtual world. Our objective is to build a data foundation that optimizes the design, planning, operation, management, and financing of blue-green infrastructure. We are calling this technology – “Urban Hydrologic Digital Twin” platform. Further details will not be shared at this time, as we look to protect our Intellectual Property (IP) until we can deliver such a solution to the market in the following decade, 2020-2030. Pedro Santa will continue to give shape to the technology during his free time, on nights and weekends, as an extra-curricular endeavor that is separate from day-job arrangements with employers, companies, and academic institutions.
Urban Hydrologics, 2015
Continue readingA Pantropical WSUD Stormwater Company
Urban Hydrologics aims to become the world’s first Pantropical Blue-Green Infrastructure consultancy services firm registered both in SE Asia and the Caribbean Tropics. In his interdisciplinary research at Harvard University, Pedro learned that Singapore is a leading nation in water cycle management, stormwater, and blue-green solutions. For these reasons, Pedro is exploring opportunities to relocate to the City State to acquire advanced strategic and implementation knowledge on nature-based solutions for urban resilience. Participating in the emerging Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters Programme (ABC Waters, launched in 2006) will provide vital knowledge on how to design, plan, and implement water-sensitive urban design features (WSUD) in the tropical climate context. These unique skills will be essential to foster climate-resilient cities, and Pedro looks to develop a pantropical business model for Urban Hydrologics — a technology and consultancy services firm that provides climate adaptation solutions to tropical cities worldwide.
Map of Urban Hydrologics Target Market and Headquarters — SE Asia (SG) + Caribbean Tropics (PR)
Continue readingDesign Language of Fluvial Geomorphology
Urban Hydrologics derives its inspirations and design language from the unique characteristics of fluvial geomorphology. The movement of water in nature creates inspiring forms. Scientific research within fluid mechanics helps us understand the mathematics of water, revealing the geometries and formal expressions which give us the inspiration to generate performative designs. Diverse reactions and interactions of water, from chemical, biological, and physical, all the way to molecular structures, are well understood by scientists. We propose to use these elegant forms to generate a unique language for urban systems, landscapes, networks, and products at diverse scales.
Holistic Stormwater Management: Unlocking Financing for Livable Cities & Solving Multiple Issues
One of Urban Hydrologics’ core arguments is that Holistic Stormwater Management is the key to unlocking financing towards solving, directly and indirectly, many of the issues of the contemporary city. Many agendas, such as connectivity, pedestrianization, alternate mobility, urban safety & health, business improvement, innovation, biophilia, tourism revenues, property value increases, and other livable city measures, can all be unlocked, in one way or another, through increased investment in stormwater management solutions that employ nature and blue-green elements for quantity and quality management. This idea and conceptual framework is one of the key arguments that set the foundation of the Urban Hydrologics Approach when the group was launched in 2009.
Continue readingLeveraging Technology for Blue-Green
Urban Hydrologics has been launched while Pedro Santa studies at Harvard University. He aspires to create a software-technology company equipped to provide data-driven climate adaptation consultancy services. After graduation from Harvard, Pedro Santa looks to gain in-depth professional practice experience in stormwater management, best management practices, blue-green infrastructure, and water-sensitive urban design concepts worldwide — with a particular interest in Singapore as the key nation that’s prioritizing stormwater management in urban design. His objective is to gain unique implementation expertise and to understand how software can play a role in advanced climate adaptation. Gaining industry experience is the first step to developing an Urban Hydrologic Software applicable worldwide. With unique knowledge gained in Singapore, Urban Hydrologics will be ahead of the curve in creating digital tools to meet the emerging needs of governments, industries, communities, and consultants. Experience is critical to successfully creating a software platform that provides recommendations for mitigating weather extremes and climate adaptation in future cities.
The Urban Hydrologics manifesto was written in November 2008, and the organization was officially launched on January 15th, 2009. Since interdisciplinary climate adaptation technology companies are rare and water-sensitive urban design is still an emerging discipline, the objective is to acquire advanced practice and implementation competencies to ensure Urban Hydrologics develops novel software technology to foster climate adaptation mitigation efforts and planning with more precision. We see a rise in data-driven design practices emerging, and we are committed to developing tools that mirror the world in a digital platform to predict climate impacts before they occur.
After graduation from Harvard, Pedro Santa will embark on a ten-year professional experience journey to gain unique experience in water management, interdisciplinary design, climate adaptation, nature-based solutions, environmental planning, and hydrology-engineering companies. This objective requires Pedro to work abroad and interact with engineering teams around the world, to gain the most advanced blue-green infrastructure implementation knowledge. Pedro firmly believes these experiences will qualify and empower him to lead software engineers and a panel of interdisciplinary professionals in the future. Urban Hydrologics aims to pioneer a new business model in an era of climate adaptation – becoming the world’s first tropical climate-based company to combine software, consultancy services, and blue-green monitoring sensor products to improve the financing, planning, design, engineering, operation, and management of nature-based solutions in the cities of tomorrow.