Enrique Lomnitz

Enrique Lomnitz is a Mexican sustainable industrial engineer. He is known for founding Isla Urbana, an organization that promotes and installs rainwater harvesters in low-income, peri-urban neighborhoods. Lomnitz has received numerous accolades relating to his success in sustainably harvesting rainwater in drought and impoverished communities in Mexico City, Mexico.

Early life and education Lomnitz was born in Mexico, but simultaneously lived in both Mexico and the United States of America. Lomnitz attended and graduated from Rhode Island School of Design in the U.S. He originally chose plastic arts as his interest in design school, however through realizing his passion for the environment and the arts, he switched to sustainable industrial design. At Rhode Island School of Design, he developed a project for sustainable housing in low-income areas of Mexico City. Lomnitz graduated from Rhode Island School of Design in 2006.

Career Lomnitz co-founded Isla Urbana with Renata Fenton in 2009. While traveling after graduating from college, Lomnitz recognized the areas that were falling behind in Mexico City's infrastructure. One third of Mexico City residents lack access to water. In some drought-stricken communities, water is limited for use to six hours during the morning hours only. Lomnitz realized that Mexico City was not efficiently or at all, collecting any rainwater in its infrastructure. So, he and his co-founder developed a simple way for locals to collect rain water in tanks, founding Isla Urbana.

Lomnitz's Isla Urbana's mission is to also educate the local communities as part of their mission to incorporate sustainable rainwater harvesting in the city's everyday water use. Isla Urbana trains locals on how to use the rainwater capture system.

He was named one of MIT Technology Review's '35 Innovators Under 35' in 2013.