ResilientHydroTwin at IRNOP 2026: Rethinking flood resilience as a communication challenge
Flood resilience is often framed as an engineering or institutional challenge. But what if the real bottleneck is communication?
Motivation
- Climate change is increasing the frequency of extreme hydro-climatic events, worsening floods and water scarcity in tropical and subtropical regions.
- The IPCC predicts a 3.5% increase in precipitation-related extremes for every additional 0.5°C of global warming.
- Urbanization in some regions has intensified climate change impacts, leading to increased flooding and water scarcity by encroaching on essential natural drainage systems and relying heavily on inefficient water sources.
- Current water resource management, focused on a linear approach without reuse or recycling, exacerbates water scarcity.
- Inefficient flood management leads to increased property damage, infrastructure degradation, and higher maintenance costs.
- Data-driven solutions and integrated models are essential for better flood prediction and adaptive management, but lack of model integration hampers comprehensive understanding of system interactions.
About
This multi-disciplinary project aims to develop an intricate city-scale digital twin, unifying diverse system models such
as hydrological, hydraulic, water resource management, resilience, and governance for augmenting disaster response to urban water-related extremities. We aspire to hone predictive accuracy of system behaviour during hydrological extremes and boost urban resilience by utilizing complex system modelling and integrating human behavioural aspects into the digital twin.
Ambitious Path to Urban Resilience
Smart Cities
The project will develop a highly accurate, interactive digital twin that replicates a city's urban topography, infrastructure, hydrological patterns, and human behaviors, facilitating better flood resilience.
Participatory Governance
This project will transform flood management strategies by empowering urban planners, policymakers, and researchers to make data-driven decisions, leading to more accurate and efficient flood response.
Social Resilience
The ultimate goal is to enhance disaster response mechanisms and strengthen urban resilience, contributing to global knowledge that can be applied by other cities facing climate-induced hydrological extremes.
Climate Adaptation
The project focuses on using innovative tools to strengthen urban climate adaptation efforts. This technology allows cities to anticipate and manage the impacts of climate change more effectively.
News
Resilient HydroTwin team presents research at the conference of Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management - ISCRAM 2026
Members of the Resilient HydroTwin project team recently participated in ISCRAM 2026 (Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management), where they presented their latest work on flood emergency mobility and behavioral modeling.
Resilient HydroTwin researchers participated in the International Conference on Resilient Systems 2026
Members of the Resilient HydroTwin project team recently participated in the International Conference on Resilient Systems 2026, themed “Resilience in an Age of Disruption”, where they presented their work on: “Digital Twins in Flood Resilience: Potential, Challenges and Reliability for Urban Applications”, was delivered within the track Digital Foundations of Resilient Built Environments. It explored the role of digital twins as emerging tools to support disaster preparedness, response, and long-term urban resilience planning.
Resilient HydroTwin research on Governance and Collaborations presented at Cities of Care Conference
Ramachandran.A from Okapi Research & Advisory presented a paper under the theme Urban Water Management and Water Infrastructure at the conference, Cities of Care: Shaping Sustainable and Equitable Futures through the Water–Food–Waste Nexus, held at the IIT Madras Research Park (IITMRP), Chennai, on 30-31 January 2026.
From Maps to Models : Visioning Workshop in Chennai
The Resilient HydroTwin (RHT) Visioning Workshop was held on 28 January 2026 at the IIT Madras Research Park . This is the second in a series of workshops planned under the Resilient Hydrotwin project.
Resilient HydroTwin team participates in the International Climate Resilience Conference (iCARE)
Members of the Resilient HydroTwin project team recently participated in the International Climate Resilience Conference (iCARE), held at LMU Munich, Germany, from 26–29 October 2025.
[Workshop 1 Recap] Enhancing Water Resilience with Digital Twins in Rotterdam: Co-creation
On 23 June 2025, the first stakeholder workshop of the ResilientHydroTwin project was successfully held at TU Delft, with hybrid participation from over 30 stakeholders across academia, government, and practice.
Strengthening Tambaram’s Flood Resilience: A Recap of the Inception Workshop
The Resilient HydroTwin (RHT) Inception Workshop was held on 4 July 2025 at IIT Madras Research Park. The pilot aims to develop a participatory Digital Twin platform to strengthen flood resilience in Tambaram City Municipal Corporation (TCMC)- a newly formed urban local body within the Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA).
Resilient HydroTwin Featured in PhD Spring School on Urban Digital Twins
Members of the Resilient HydroTwin project team recently participated in the first-ever PhD Spring School on Urban Digital Twins: Futureproofing and Resilience for Cities and Infrastructure, organized by Kaunas University of Technology (KTU), the KTU Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture, and the Centre for Smart Cities and Infrastructure, and proudly supported by our project partner, Bentley Systems.
Resilient HydroTwin researcher wins Best paper award on Climate Change Governance!
We are proud to share that Erica Arango, coordinator and postdoctoral researcher in the Resilient HydroTwin project, has been awarded the Best Paper Award on Climate Change Governance 2024 by the TU Delft Climate Action Programme!
ResilientHydroTwin Project kicked off under NWO-DST Water Disaster Management (WDM)
ResilientHydroTwin is one of three projects awarded under the Water Disaster Management (WDM) program, a collaborative effort between India and the Netherlands facilitated by the NWO-DST Merian cooperation. These three projects convened for a joint kickoff ceremony at the NWO offices in Utrecht, Netherlands, from October 15th to 17th, 2024.
Resilient HydroTwin - Kickoff Workshop
We are excited to announce the successful kick-off of our innovative project on June 18! This ambitious initiative aims to enhance urban resilience and transform disaster response strategies through cutting-edge digital twin technology.