Urban Exchange Episode 5: Andy Foster, Mayor of Wellington

In the latest episode of the Urban Exchange: Cities on the Frontline podcast, R-Cities’ Lauren Sorkin is joined by the City of Wellington’s Mayor Andy Foster for a frank and open conversation about the work that the city is doing to build resilience.

That conversation starts where so many often do at the moment – in understanding the opportunities that exist for Wellington in its recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, and its potential to build back better and greener. New Zealand’s approach the pandemic was especially strict with border closures and lockdowns and Mayor Foster goes into detail on what that has meant for Wellington as it begins to emerge from the pandemic a little later than some of its global counterparts.

From there, Mayor Foster explores what resilience really means for Wellington, explaining to Lauren how the pandemic has added tasks to the city’s resilience to-do list. Here, we discover more about the New Zealand capital’s priorities around climate action and seismic resilience, and how it assesses mitigation strategies being both a coastal city in the face of climate change, as well as a city prone to numerous earthquakes.

Explaining some of the ways in which Wellington is managing these issues already, Mayor Foster goes into detail on the city’s use of digital twins as part of a citywide programme. More broadly, he explains how the use of sensors and digital solutions have become critical in bolstering safety during seismic and other events.

Finally, Lauren asks Mayor Foster about Wellington’s resilience and infrastructure financing and the ways in which the city – and more broadly the nation of New Zealand – has invested in digital infrastructure to ensure resilience across a number of issues for the short, mid and long term.