Urban Exchange Podcast Episode 15 – Kathy Oldham, Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Will Cavendish, Arup – Building digital resilience

In this episode of the Urban Exchange, host Lauren Sorkin, Executive Director of Resilient Cities Network and Co-chair of the SmartCitiesWorld Advisory Board, is joined by Kathy Oldham, Chief Resilience Officer, Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and Will Cavendish, Global Digital Services Leader, Arup.

The latest episode is set in the context of the new publication entitled Digital Cities, Resilient Cities. Delivering urban resilience through digital solutions, developed by Resilient Cities Network and Arup. Lauren begins by asking Will what “digital resilience” means and why cities should care about it. He explains the importance of looking at it through the two lenses of a city’s abilities to use digital systems to build resilience but also ensuring the resilience of those systems and services themselves.

As the Chief Resilience Officer for Greater Manchester since 2018, Kathy explains that one of the main challenges is that cities are now looking at a complex “system of systems” with digital technologies having brought together so many different technologies and processes which can be difficult to risk assess. She talks about the “layering” approach to digital resilience that GMCA now builds in.

Viewing digital technology as a basic human right is a recurring theme. Manchester has a number of strategies in place to address digital exclusion with its aim to help people use digital technology to live their best life. Kathy also talks about the importance of covening with stakeholders from private, public sectors and academia. For example, the Manchester Digital Blueprint is co-owned by more than 300 organisations.

Will then discusses some of the principles city leaders can adopt to build in digital resilience such as flexibility of systems and redundancy. He brings in the subject of climate resilience and how data and technology can help us be more predictive. He emphasises the need for city leaders to recognise that the threat is real, highlighting the impact urban heat has had on cities around the world in recent years.

The discussion also covers the importance of knowledge sharing between cities and how networks can facilitate this. This also means cities can achieve resilience aims in potentially shorter timelines.

About the speakers

Kathy Oldham, Chief Resilience Officer, Greater Manchester Combined Authority

Kathy is Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s (GMCA) Chief Resilience Officer, a position she’s held since 2018. Kathy works with the GMCA and leaders across the private and public sectors to find solutions to the modern challenges the city region faces – from climate change, poverty and homelessness, to flooding and life-threatening emergencies.

Will Cavendish, Global Digital Services Leader, Arup 
Will is Arup’s global Digital Services Leader. He works with a wide range of clients to understand the potential of innovation and digital technologies to improve growth, regenerate cities and places, and improve the effectiveness of infrastructure.Before joining Arup, he was Applied Strategy Lead at DeepMind, responsible for taking the world-leading breakthroughs taking place in Artificial Intelligence, and applying them for good in areas such as health and energy. Prior to that he was a senior civil servant and his roles included: Director General for Innovation, Growth and Technology at the Department of Health; Director General, International Energy and Climate Change at DECC; and head of the Prime Minister’s Implementation Unit, reporting directly to David Cameron and Nick Clegg. As a result, he has wide-ranging experience of achieving change in areas such as digital, health, education, energy and climate change, cybersecurity, growth and innovation.
During his time in government, Will led the creation of the world’s first network of What Works Centres, set up to provide proper evidence on effective uses of public money. He was also a LEP Senior Sponsor and was involved in a number of City Deals.