The projects
The first project, Smart Mobility as a Sustainability Enabler for New Zealand, builds on the team’s earlier research on operationalising the smart city concept for Auckland. It uses advanced technologies and data driven planning to optimise urban mobility, reduce carbon emissions and improve liveability, treating mobility as a lever for sustainability rather than only a matter of moving vehicles.
The second, Developing a Digital Twin Model for Urban Microclimate of Auckland: Kaitiakitanga 1.0, models and analyses the city’s microclimate so that predictive analysis and real time decision making can enter urban planning. Its name reflects the principle of kaitiakitanga, guardianship, and the aim of urban development that safeguards the environment for future generations.
Why the two belong together
Transport and microclimate are usually studied by different disciplines, yet they shape each other. Road space, traffic and paved surfaces drive urban heat; heat and wind shape whether people walk, cycle or wait for a bus. A city that wants people out of cars needs streets that are comfortable to be on, and a city that wants cooler streets needs fewer cars on them. The two projects treat these as parts of one urban system.
Support and partnership
Both projects were funded by the Faculty of Design and Creative Technologies at AUT. He used the interview to invite partnership from industry, researchers and policymakers, including Auckland Council, Auckland Transport, the Smart Cities Council and the New Zealand Transport Agency, and the work on trust in autonomous driving, published in Smart and Sustainable Built Environment, belongs to the same programme.
Its digital twin approach also informs his proposal for a CIB Task Group on Digital Twin Governance, and his wider argument that urban twins should serve citizens as well as asset managers.
Why interviews matter
Interviews translate research for audiences who will never read a journal article: residents, practitioners, funders and policymakers. For projects that depend on partnerships with councils and agencies, public explanation is part of the work, because it is how potential partners learn that the research exists and what it could do for them.