Canterbury-Bankstown Reignites Future Street

The City of Canterbury Bankstown transformed a section of North Terrace in Bankstown into an interactive experience for a week in June. The Future Street exhibit showcased how landscape, infrastructure and technology may advance the city to become more liveable, productive and sustainable.

Future Street Canterbury-Bankstown also highlighted two of the city’s major projects under consultation: the ‘Smart CBCity Roadmap‘ and ‘Bankstown Complete Streets Transport and Place Plan‘.

The 2019 pop-up follows the original 2017 Future Street activation, held in front of Customs House in Circular Quay – a project designed by Place Design Group with the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects, Smart Cities Council ANZ and the Internet of Things Alliance Australia.

To help demonstrate these ideas, product vendors including Street Furniture Australia, Smart Sensor, Lime, Andreasen’s Green and Hyundai displayed their latest smart tech including smart benches, smart bins, e-scooters, e-bikes and an electric car.

Mayor Khal Asfour says the City’s future will be exciting for residents and visitors: “This all might sound like science fiction but, in truth, it’s fast becoming reality.”

“The aim is to transform street and civic spaces into more attractive, safer, sustainable, usable places, that are easier to navigate, enjoy and do business in. It’s all about improving quality of life and providing more efficient services,” he says.

Place Design Group was appointed by Council to deliver the installation. Chris Isles, Executive Director of Planning, says the project demonstrates how councils can engage communities to interact with smart city strategies.

“The CBCity Future Street brings Council’s vision and future plans to life in pop-up format, which allows the community to physically experience what a street in Canterbury Bankstown could look like in the future,” he says.

While seating and tables will play a large part in encouraging people to enjoy the outdoors in the streets of the future, says Isles, the Aria Smart Bench adds further amenity with charging and WiFi.

“This kind of infrastructure is going to be really important, allowing people to charge their phones when they’re out and about. It also has a really nice social aspect to it, for the homeless community and others who don’t have easy access to charging on a day-to-day basis,” he says.

“We particularly love this smart bench because it is Australian made.”

Aria Seats combined with PowerMe Tables provide usb, powerpoint and wireless charging, with the option to include public WiFi and IoT sensors.