On Dec 12th, 2020, Pedro Santa delivered a lecture presentation focused on Punggol Digital District, a Singapore project by RSD, where PJ Santa (Pedro J. Santa Rivera) served as the project manager and coordinator of blue-green infrastructure and water-sensitive urban design integration. The title of the presentation was “BIM for Landscape & Water Sensitive Urban Design Optimization”.
Continue readingSoftware & Data
Monitoring Surface Water from Space
The journal “Reviews of Geophysics” has published a seminal paper that reviews the use of optical remote sensing to observe surface water in relation to ecological and hydrological studies: “Remote sensing data have been integrated with in situ river flow to model Spatio-temporal dynamics of surface water. Recent studies have proved that the river discharge can be estimated using only optical remote sensing imagery. This will be a breakthrough for hydrological studies in ungauged areas.”
Image: Detecting, Extracting, and Monitoring Surface Water From Space Using Optical Sensors
Continue readingEcological landscape-scale sensor network
The journal Ecological Research has recently published an article covering the new opportunities for ecological monitoring. The article titled: “Listening to ecosystems: data-rich acoustic monitoring through landscape-scale sensor networks”, provides phenomenal insights on the use of newly-initiated acoustic monitoring networks to collect data from ecosystems and use these space-time data to better understand ecosystem dynamics. The team’s insights highlight the potential utility of remote acoustic monitoring practices that, in combination with other methods can provide a holistic picture of biodiversity.
Continue readingBlue-Green-Data Economy of the Future
Urban Hydrologics stipulates there will be a rise in virtual platforms to optimize water infrastructures. The White Paper authored by Urban Hydrologics depicts an increase in use case applications of virtual twin models to optimize the design and orchestration of nature-based solutions across urban settings, unleashing unprecedented digital services and applications. Urban Hydrologics has coined the phrase: “Blue-Green-Data Economy of the Future” to embody and describe the emerging spectrum of goods and services related to Blue-Green Virtual innovations on the horizon.
Continue readingTowards an Urban Hydrologic Digital Twin
Urban Hydrologics embarks on Digital Twin Technology. In December 2014, we began 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 Data-Driven Urban Hydro Logics Platform
All surfaces of the city, from coastal to inland, should collect data through monitoring sensors to better understand vulnerabilities and focus resiliency investment. Such a data-driven approach will make risks abundantly clear before disasters happen. This prevention approach through visualization software will expedite the decision-making of governments and increase the adoption of nature-based solutions by the private sector. All nations, cities, public, and private entities need to work together to help fund our efforts to develop an Urban-Hydrologics-Systems-Software.
The UHS Data-Driven Approach proposes to create computer-aided replicas of our cities, to allow running scenarios, and to test how the urban fabric responds to weather extremes. At the moment, this UHS Software does not yet exist, and we look to patent this software approach, develop proper computer code to enable an Urban-Hydrologics-Systems’ platform for cities and municipalities to buy as a dedicated prevention service in the near future. We hope this UHS Software can help link the physical world with the BIM data world. If we are successful in creating this software solution, we will be able to provide solid data to municipalities, and increase investment in Urban Hydro Logic Solutions before weather extremes do arrive. Our objective is to demonstrate impacts (advocacy through visualization) to ensure governments recognize what’s needed, a “pre-active approach” (UHS, 2009). We hope to speed up the retrofitting of cities, communities, industries, infrastructures, and processes to ensure we can meet IPCC targets before runaway climate change becomes irreversible.
Leveraging 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 Hydro Logics 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.