Kate Deacon, Smart City Lead at the City of Sydney, believes that contrary to popular belief, a successful smart city should revolve around its citizens, not technology.

During her presentation at CityDisrupt, Sydney in September, she said:

“A smart city really isn’t about technology at all. Cities are first and foremost, for people and a smart city plan needs to start with the people.”

In order for it to be successful, the government’s focus needs to be on the liveability of the city instead of just promoting the fanciest upgrades or most expensive transport solutions.

“Liveability really is at the heart of what a future successful city looks like. It’s not really one that has ubiquitous technology; it’s one that harnesses that technology to deliver benefits for the community.”

Deacon stressed the need for future infrastructure to be flexible and prepare for multiple possibilities. In drawing a comparison to from the 1980s where Deacon showcased the significant drop in population with 25% of offices vacant, urban planners thought it would be unlikely that there would be an increase of work.

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Deacon believes there are two key factors to success.

The first is collaboration between different agencies, from local government and state government to working with academic institutions as well. ... The second, is that smart cities need to foster innovation from within the department to build the infrastructure of tomorrow and create Sydney as a leader in smart cities.