Community Climate Tool
Digital Twin + Community Engagement
My role
User experience and visual design
Team
Emma Martin — Design
Riche Jose — User Experience
Emlyn Hughes — Technical Lead
Mercia Abbot — Design
Jamuna Rotstein — Climate Engagement
Client
Wellington City Council
Overview
Te-Whanganui-a-Tara will be increasingly exposed to climate change impacts including sea level rise, storm surges, flooding and slips. In 2022, the Council won the prestigious Bloomberg Mayors Challenge, a global competition recognising the boldest and most ambitious urban innovations that help cities tackle global issues including climate change.
The project leverages the powerful data-driven visual storytelling capability of the Digital City Model to support the Council’s Climate Adaptation Community Engagement Roadmap and which aligns with Council’s Te Atakura - First to Zero climate change strategy.
Awards
Seoul Smart City Tech-innovacity Prize, 2023
“We need new tools and engagement methods that allow everyone to understand the impacts, and to participate in co-creating a climate-resilient city.”
Alison Howard, Manager of Climate Change Response
Built in collaboration with Wellington
We led a six-month research and design phase. This human-centred process involved over 500 members of the public through workshops, online testing, and usability testing. This process identified the features and functionality people most desired to see in a digital experience and used to build a prototype.
Insights from the design process will continue to inform the development of the digital experience, for public release in 2024.
A digital twin with real time data
Wellington City Council has developed the digital twin. It functions as an interactive, virtual model of the capital. It’s been built from a wide range of data – including GIS maps and city-wide sensors – and looks and behaves like the real world.
It can be used to make better decisions about adaptation planning. As humans mostly process information visually, the digital twin helps people understand how a location works, how it will fare as the climate changes and what the outcomes of policy decisions will be.
The council is now using this digital twin to co-design climate change adaptation solutions with Wellingtonians. It will connect mātauranga Māori, city planning data, climate science and community values.