We're kicking off 2025 with Adrian Lord, Head of Active Modes at Auckland Transport, for an insightful discussion about walking, cycling, and some of exciting initiatives Auckland Transport is currently working on.

In this episode we talk about:

• How Adrian turned his passion for cycling into a rewarding career
• Adrian's advocacy work, including collaborations with renowned cyclist and UK Cycling Commissioner, Chris Boardman.
• The barriers to enabling cycling investment and perceptions around safety.
• Why cycling is rapidly becoming one of the fastest-growing transport modes in New Zealand and around the world.

• The growing role of E-bikes and E-Scooters in our cities.
• Key ticket items for the AT's cycling network.
• Opportunities to better integrate cycling with the City Rail Link.

Connect with Adrian here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrian-lord-04670422/

What future does New Zealand's railways have?

In this episode of the Future Proof Podcast, we talk with Michael Van Drogenbroek.

Michael is one of NZ’s own leading experts in our rail industry, having served in executive positions across both public and private rail organisations. He’s a strategic thinker, leader, commentator and a sought-after advisor to the rail, freight and public transport sectors, with international experience spanning NZ, Australia and the Middle East.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Michael's career journey, and how he got started in the railways at 17!
• The current state of rail in New Zealand.
• NZ's elephant in the room of cost blowouts and funding.
• What solutions we could employ to address our rail challenges.
• Why New Zealand needs a long-term national strategy on passenger rail.
• Where strategic rail investments such as the 'Golden Triangle' make sense for NZ, and the benefits for our communities.  

You can checkout Michael's work on his website here - https://www.heriot-edievale.com/

#FutureProofPodcast #Rail #thefutureofrail

For episode 7, we're talking about the essential lifeblood of our communities, our water infrastructure.

Joining us for this discussion is Fraser Clark, Head of Three Waters Strategy at Wellington Water.

This episode will have a particular focus on Wellington. We'll be getting into aspects of Wellingtons Three Waters Strategy, and some the key challenges Frasers team are talking to secure a sustainable water future for the city.

In this episode we'll cover:

• Background into Frasers career experience
• Key objectives of Wellingtons Three Waters Strategy
• New Zealand's challenges with aging water infrastructure
• Wellingtons unique geography and exposure to natural hazards.
• Innovative solutions to improve Wellingtons network efficiency, water usage, and customer education on pricing.
• The latest on potential reforms to New Zealand's Three Waters.

Massive thanks to Fraser for sharing, and all you listeners. Cal

This week, we had the priveledge to converse with Pete Moth, Head of Public Transport Services (Planning and Development) at Auckland Transport. Pete is an experienced transport planner and people leader with a successful career spanning the UK and New Zealand. Pete is a key authority on the intricacies and big picture items of Auckland's growing public transport network

Here's what we cover in this discussion:

• Pete's background as a Transport Planner.
• Auckland's ongoing transformation, from a tram network in the 1950's to grappling with sprawling growth and historically car-oriented policy decisions.
• Addressing transport inequity, particularly in South and West Auckland, and AT's initiatives to tackle it.
• The essential elements of a robust public transport network design, including rapid transit, high frequency, and improving journey reliability.
• Effects of COVID and the work from home revolution on travel patterns.
• City Rail Link, which will double the capacity of trains through central stations and its broader benefits for the network.
• Auckland Transport's efforts to integrate public transport with other modes such as cycling, walking, and rail.
• The importance of taking stakeholders on a journey with AT.

My favorite takeaways:

• Surprisingly, there were more public transport boardings in the 1950s, during Auckland's tram network era, compared to today.
• Pre 2018, only 1 in 12 people made transfers in their public transport journeys, a figure that has now doubled to 1 in 6.
• Despite accounting for less than 2% of traffic, buses carry nearly half the number of people crossing the Auckland Harbour Bridge during peak times.
• A staggering comparison: 350 morning buses heading into Auckland city transport the same number of people as 20,000 cars!
• AT's ambitious de-carbonisation programme, with around 180 of our 1300 buses running electric and plan for the whole fleet to be electric by 2035.

Thanks for listening!

We'd love to hear your feedback on how we can make these discussions even more insightful for our listeners.

Send us you're feedback here - callum@bureau.co.nz

Massive thanks to our guest Pete Moth.

In this episode, we sit down with Billy Brough (Principal Planner) who brings the 'planning lens' to the Hawkes Bay Regional Recovery Oversight Board.

In February 2023, Cyclone Gabrielle caused huge devastation throughout the Hawkes Bay Region, sadly costing 8 lives and catastrophic damage to infrastructure, homes and livelihoods.

A year down the track, Hawkes Bay Regional Recovery efforts are still ongoing and Billy has kindly shared with us some of his experiences and learnings throughout being apart of the recovery efforts.

In this discussion, Billy shares:

* Billy's background as a planner and local to the region.

* Overview of who and what forms the Hawkes Bay Regional Recovery Agency / board. * The magnitude of damage and economic cost to the region.

* The planning and policy initiatives driving the Hawkes bay regional recovery.

* Planning for more 'resilient infrastructure', as well as nature based solutions.

* Why it's important for Iwi and Hapu to be represented and engaged in co-design early on, as well as the notable differences between general land and "maori land".

* The potential silver-lining for Hawkes Bay to envision a better future through spatial planning.

We'd like to apologise in advance for any minor audio interruptions you may hear throughout this episode. There were some technical issues which we had to workaround.

We hope the conversation in it's relatively raw form still makes for an insightful listen!

Massive thank you to our Guest Billy.

For episode 4, we've connected with Dr Mark Davey, Chief Planner and City Planning Manager for Hamilton City Council. Mark is an incredibly bright and outcomes focused planner who brings a profound expertise in how Hamilton City plans for it's growth over the coming years.

In this episode, Mark Shares:

* His career background and story into planning, and why he ultimately came back to being a planner!

* Insights on Hamilton's Urban Growth Strategy, focusing on major developments like Peacocks (7500 new homes).

* Outside the box strategic infrastructure such as "bikes on pipes" combining cycleways and sewage infrastructure together.

* Implementation of gold-standard urban design and sustainable development principles, aligning with the Waikato River's major ecological corridor.

You can follow Mark here -

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-mark-davey-418b8a30/

Speak to Callum here -

https://www.linkedin.com/in/callum-horler-8b3257b1/

callum@bureau.co.nz | 021 847 190

🎙️ Join us for our 3rd episode of the Future Proof Podcast as we get a snapshot into the world of academia and environmental planning with our guest, Iain White, Professor of Environmental Planning at Waikato University.

In this episode, Iain shares:

• Insights into his academic journey.
• The importance of framing debates in planning.
• Details about his involvement in international research projects.
• Fun facts: Did you know that 3/4 of all environmental planning students at Waikato University are female? Also, planners graduating from Waikato University boast a remarkable 100% employment rate!
• Iain's thoughts on recent coalition agreements and our planning landscape.

You can keep up to date with Professor Ian White here -

https://www.linkedin.com/in/iain-white-5b458aa9/

Get in touch with Callum here -

https://www.linkedin.com/in/callum-horler-8b3257b1/ ⁠Callum@bureau.co.nz⁠⁠ | 021 847 190

For the 2nd instalment of the Future Proof Podcast, we're joined by Sean Audain, Strategic Planning Manager at Wellington City Council, exploring his field within strategic city planning and digital twin technologies.

A digital twin for city wide planning is a virtual simulation of our real-world cities and urban environments. It integrates data from various sources, including Internet of Things (IoT) devices, sensors, geographical information systems (GIS), historical data, and real-time information to replicate a detailed model of a city. Digital twins play a pivotal role in aiding city planners and policy makers with enhanced decision-making abilities.

In this episode, Sean shares:

• His personal journey navigating the intersection of planning and digital twins
• Examples and use cases of digital twins employed in New Zealand.    
• Insights into the technological practicalities and future potential
• Guidance on where to start for anyone intrigued by digital twins.

We apologize in advance for a brief interruption during the middle of this episode due to a minor connection issue. However, we've chosen to preserve the raw, unfiltered version —warts and all!

Keep up to date with Sean's work here -

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-audain/

Get in touch with Callum here -

Callum@bureau.co.nz⁠ | 021 847 190

To kick off Episode 01 of the Future Proof Podcast, we're delving into A.I and it's use-cases within Planning. Joined by Daniel Kinnoch, the Founder and Director CoLab Planning - a specialist resource management consultancy, based in Auckland, NZ.

CoLab Planning has embraced a 'Technology First' approach, integrating AI tools that have transformed their business operations and services.

In this episode, Daniel shares:

• His journey from planner to tech-savvy planning business founder.
• How CoLab Planning has adopted a 'technology first' planning approach.
• Practical tips, A.I tools/applications for language models and interpreting images.
• The good and bad of ChatGPT.

If you'd like to hear more episodes like this - don't forget to subscribe.