Smart City Partnership Wins Committee for Sydney Award

Georges River Council’s partnership with UNSW and Street Furniture Australia has received a Highly Commended Award for Cross Sectoral Collaboration at the 2019 Smart City Awards by the Committee for Sydney.

The awards celebrate projects and partnerships that address the fundamental challenges faced by cities, governments, industry and communities in Greater Sydney.

The three partners were recognised for their collaboration on creating smart social spaces that improve the amenity and user experience of public open spaces, as well as helping to mitigate urban heat island effects at the micro level.

The trio is one of the few teams to win both Round 1 and Round 2 grants from the Australian Government’s $50m Smart Cities and Suburbs Program.

The Round 1 project, Smart Social Spaces, investigated how smart furniture can be used by councils to enhance community and urban management.

Learnings from Round 1 were applied to the Round 2 project, ChillOUT, which will see human-centred places to sit, relax and connect with others. Smart technology will monitor user numbers, the microclimate and utilities.

ChillOUT Hubs will be installed at three public places in Georges River in south-west Sydney.

Construction began in October, with the industry launch planned for early 2020.

The awards were judged by an esteemed panel of independent experts including Lucy Turnbull AO, the NSW Minister for Better Regulation and Innovation and smart cities expert Adam Beck.