By Staff Writer.
The NSW Government has released a playbook to help people and organisations harness the power of data and smart technologies to boost the quality of life in NSW or, as the Governments styles it, to help develop “smart places.”
The Government’s Smart Places strategy comes out of the Department of Planning, Industry, and Environment (DPIE). It uses technology and information to solve problems and open up economic, social, and cultural opportunities for people in communities, towns, and cities.
The playbook is part of a suite of measures and programs designed to achieve this. According to the DPIE, the playbook provides processes and tools for “identifying and deploying smart solutions.”
The NSW Government’s interest in smart city technologies and trends is embedded in its 2020 Smart Places Strategy.
“Smart Places bring the physical and digital together,” said NSW Minister for Customer Service, Victor Dominello. “We will take a place-based approach to smart cities and connected infrastructure and services and realise the real value of smart places and interconnected systems.”
The Government says its Smart Places Playbook is not intended to be an explicit how-to manual. Instead, it outlines a process that can be followed to identify and roll out smart solutions. In addition, the playbook also provides links to relevant case studies, policies, and standards.
“People using this Playbook will have varying information needs and be at different stages of planning and delivering smart places,” the DPIE says.
Under the NSW Government’s Smart Places vision, technologies will be embedded into the built environment to capture and convey data and insights. The captured data will be analysed to help people and governments make better, evidence-based decisions that improve the productivity, liveability, and resilience of communities big and small.
According to the Government, the building blocks of its Smart Places Strategy are robust foundations, effective enablers, and innovative programs. The capability building nature of the playbook sees it come under the programs’ umbrella.
The playbook, which is available on the DPIE website, has seven goals. First, it helps organisations set up for success with the right policies. Second, it encourages community participation to identify problems and opportunities and the design of solutions.
Third, based on who will visit, live, and work there, the playbook helps establish the needs and ambitions of a place. Fourth, the playbook encourages conversations with relevant experts.
The playbook seeks to help people invested in smart cities make a case for smart places, as well as providing advice on procuring and delivering smart solutions in a place-based way. Finally, advice is offered on how to maintain smart place assets, including data.
The Smart Places Playbook styles itself as a roadmap for communities, organisations, households, and individuals to join the smart cities movement. While the goal is improving liveability across all of NSW, the playbook and the broader Smart Place Strategy encourages participation down to the individual level.
Once fully established, the NSW Government argues their Smart Places Strategy will deliver measurable quality of life benefits for all its citizens.
