Faculty:Faculty of Science and Engineering
School:Engineering and the Built Environment
Location: Chelmsford
Research Supervision:Yes
Dr. Blanco-Montero is an architect and researcher interested in processes of sustainable development enhanced by the application of smart initiatives. His professional experience spans over two decades. He holds a master’s degree in Architecture and a Ph.D in Civil Engineering.
In recent years, Antonio has been a coordinator in research projects related to building resilience-strength against Climate Change for vulnerable communities in South Africa, funded by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI).
Email: [email protected]
Dr. Blanco-Montero has tackled multiple roles within the architectural profession since 2001. As a city architect, he had the opportunity to design institutional buildings, public spaces and infrastructures. Later, he worked on large scale projects in Southern Africa, where he started his journey as a researcher, focused on sustainable development in developing countries with the aid of smart initiatives.
For the last 3 years, he has been the coordinator for green infrastructures under the first Adaptation Fund project in South Africa, a conglomerate of regional and local governments, academics, NPOs and local communities. This experience awakened his interest in vulnerable communities and ecosystems, and the capacity of architects and designers to enable the implementation of sustainable development.
Antonio is a registered professional architect in the UK (ARB), Spain (COAS) and South Africa (SACAP). With more than 130 architectural and infrastructural projects and over 80 built projects as lead architect, his work has been internationally published in specialized journals and exhibitions, as well as presented at conferences such as the American Institute of Architects (AIA) On Design Fall Conference 2012 and the International Union of Architects (UIA) Durban 2014.
He has actively engaged with the civic society as a board member of two NPOs (Strategic Urban Management and the South African Institute of Architects KZN Section).
Currently, he is a committee member of the Spanish Researchers in Southern Africa (ACE Sur de África).
Urban waste has become one of the main contributors of global pollution. The concept of Waste Architecture acknowledges the importance of addressing what is a stigmatised urban issue and encouraging the architecture and engineering community to deal with waste and landfills, closure and planning, with more integration, embracing the opportunities for decentralisation and leapfrogging in developing countries.
Analysing and mapping scenarios for opportunities to uplift rural areas and their sustainable development may have an impact on decompressing cities, becoming a feasible alternative to urban “safety”, attracting both, human and financial capital to historically disadvantaged areas.
The interest of this topic lies in determining the capabilities of the urban environment in developing countries to embrace policy-making, projects and initiatives on smart cities that tackle specific regional issues, especially those related to social and environmental matters. The aim is to identify sustainable ways for long-term implementation of up to date technologies in cities for an effective leapfrog that would bring developing countries up to nowadays standards without losing local references.