The City of Casey has partnered with Stonnington, Frankston, Maroondah, Knox and Boroondara Councils to help develop smart city opportunities across Eastern Melbourne suburbs.
Using the past four years of experience in deploying smart technology and infrastructure, the City of Casey is sharing smart city knowledge and learnings to build a network that supports regional smart city efficiencies and opportunities.
The partnership provides an opportunity to develop community led smart city projects, share data across the councils, build from the six diverse councils’ experiences, and uplift the capabilities of councils in the smart city space.
City of Casey’s Chair of Administrators, Noelene Duff, is looking forward to seeing the partnership evolve and help support Casey’s Smart City initiatives, while also supporting other councils.
“Over the last two years especially, we have seen how technology and innovation can build resilient communities,” Ms Duff said.
“To increase our community’s resilience, and support Casey’s present and future needs, Council is committed to learning how technology, data, and innovation – Smart City infrastructure – can unlock new opportunities and help us overcome persistent challenges.
“This partnership will provide a pathway for Casey as well as other councils to share data, knowledge and experience to all benefit from the value of smart technology and innovation.”
Investing in smart city technology and infrastructure is essential to improve operational efficiencies, build transparency with the community and help solve complex challenges with innovative solutions.
The approach has also saved significant time, resources, and funding through a collaborative procurement exercise. After a competitive tender process, Minnovation was the successful vendor.
The first goal of the partnership will focus on deploying a range of smart city project across the six councils to solve local challenges and increase impact, including:
- People counting at council facilities and playgrounds to manage services and infrastructure more effectively
- Managing public bin waste more effectively using sensors to inform collections to reduce costs
- Mapping and understanding heat issues across the region with microclimate sensors, to develop business cases for investment in urban cooling initiatives
- Monitoring drainage to enable more efficient maintenance and prevent flooding and pollution ending up in waterways and riverbeds
After the first solutions have been deployed, the councils will work together to interpret the data, share insights, and create projects to help solve challenges that increase social, environmental, and economic outcomes in the region.
In 2020, the City of Casey developed the Smart Casey Launchpad in consultation with the community.
The launchpad is a strategic approach to smart city action and guides how Council and the community can harness data, technology, and innovation to build a connected, sustainable, inclusive, and innovative community.
The launchpad has already helped guide a number of smart city projects and frameworks across the community, including an Open Data Platform, a Digital Equity Framework, Digital Equity Living Lab, free public WiFi through ‘Smart Bench’ infrastructure and people and traffic sensors which provide data to the Open Data Platform.
