Smart City Strategy

The Smart City Strategy is Council’s plan to develop our City into a ‘smart city’. It will outline the vision, objectives, and actions to deliver a considered and sustainable smart city. 

In 2015, Parramatta became the first local government in NSW to adopt a Smart City Masterplan to better position Parramatta to meet the challenges of the future. 

The Smart City Strategy will further define Parramatta as a smart city. It will leverage the foundation set by our Smart City Masterplan to consider the emergence of innovative technology, innovation hubs, and investments being made in Parramatta and Western Sydney by key stakeholders, and how they can be implemented across our City to deliver better outcomes for the community.

In the past decade, technology has evolved at a rapid pace changing the world and the way we live in it. We are witnessing increasing capabilities of new technology to support better outcomes for communities around Australia. This presents us with new opportunities and ideas to rethink how we plan and operate our cities and help uncover substantial potential to improve the quality of life for all. 

The integration of smart technologies can help our city and community cope with and adapt to the complex challenges of our age such as urban heat, the efficient management and use of resources, severe weather change, rapid population growth, and pandemics. 

A smart city is one that purposefully embeds technology into the everyday to improve the community’s quality of life. Sometimes these technologies are not even noticed by the community, such as environmental sensors monitoring air, water, and soil quality. In other instances, these technologies are actively interacted with by the community, such as parking sensors and notifications on apps to shorten commute times.

The Community Strategic Plan 2018-2038provides CoP with strategic direction around the community’s vision for the future of Parramatta. An ‘innovative’ city is one of the goals identified by the community in this plan, and the Smart City Strategy will be a tool to help us achieve this goal.

The purpose of community engagement is to ensure the Smart City Strategy is informed by relevant stakeholders and is reflective of the community’s needs, aspirations, and priorities.

As this work has evolved, it has become increasingly clear that smart cities are less about technology and more about people. Technology is often the way in which improvements are delivered, but the approach to smart cities needs to be framed by the human experience and a community lens for it to be effective and relevant.

Council is now reviewing the community feedback from stage one consultation to inform and develop the draft Smart City Strategy.

The draft Smart City Strategy will then be exhibited to the public in late 2022 and your further feedback will help refine the strategy. Your input may also be used to inform future strategies and plans Council will produce.