Marco A. Rico Thirion

Marco is a climate mitigation and adaptation professional with over 12 years of experience supporting the design and development of building, industrial, and infrastructure projects across North America. His specialties include the use of digital and simulation tools to address aspects of life-cycle assessment, building and neighborhood performance, as well as facilitating climate adaptation and resilience in communities through the use of GIS tools and census demographics.

Before Mantle Developments, Marco worked as a designer, structural engineer, project engineer, and project manager for several projects related to transit-oriented communities, public infrastructure, private developments, and building and Industrial retrofits.

Through his volunteer work, Marco has been actively involved in sustainable development both in research and academic work, such as participating in conferences addressing simulation for low-carbon design, acting as an urban leadership academy member for Sustainable Cities at the School of Cities, and as a social worker and caregiver for abandoned children. This work has shaped his desire to contribute to our society, both environmentally and socially, speaking through adaptation and resiliency planning.

Marco has an undergraduate and master’s degree in civil engineering and a master’s in environment and sustainability, specializing in adaptation and resilience. Through his master’s, he researched the contribution of GIS, simulation tools, and Multi-Objective Optimization design via Artificial Intelligence to redevelop existing neighborhoods into pedestrian-oriented communities, increasing social and environmental sustainability performance while being mindful of the overall carbon budget.