As our municipality continues to grow and change, we are calling on residents from across our community to contribute their best ideas about how we can use innovation and cuttingedge technology to evolve into a smart city in the future.
These ideas will help inform a draft Smart City Discussion Paper, currently being developed by our Liveability, Innovation and Technology (LIT) Committee. This committee is a specialist advisory panel with members of our community working together with Councillors and Council officers.
One of the community members on the panel is Christine Gouramanis, a local architect who has called Manningham home for over 30 years. She has seen first-hand how innovation and technology can be people-focused and adaptable to help communities.
“As an architect I design places and buildings with people at the centre. I use technology and constantly seek innovative ways and products to improve how we design and build with the aim to improve our lives,” she says.
Ms Gouramanis believes future buildings should be sustainable and intelligent, with shared services and systems.
“This might include innovative systems that can turn on electricity when there is insufficient daylight, automated sun louvres to control heat gain from the sun, and water recycled from other areas of a building.
“Buildings could share resources and services; rubbish could be sorted, treated and collected on a needs basis; there are many opportunities,” Ms Gouramanis says.
Ms Gouramanis says technology innovation can also empower older residents and those who are less mobile.
“Manningham extends over a large area of land and accessing services and facilities relies on physical participation. With decreasing mobility we can become less connected with our community and more isolated,” she says.
“Smart cities are fantastic for people of all abilities. It means you could access services remotely, from home and be part of our community by interacting with others through online clubs or perform civic duties online in public forums.”
Manningham Council Deputy Mayor and LIT Committee chair, Councillor Mike Zafiropoulos AM, believes the time is ripe for an initiative such as the LIT Committee and is proud his proposal to establish the committee was unanimously supported by Council.
“The rapid population growth and demographic change we are seeing in Manningham is impacting many aspects of our daily lives, in areas such as planning, parking, congestion, amenity, and open spaces. We can adopt new approaches to ensure innovation is also an integral part of our day to day lives,” Cr Zafiropoulos AM says.
Tell us your ideas for a smart city
As we develop our Smart City Discussion Paper, we want to hear from you.
To have your say on what smart city opportunities we should consider for Manningham, complete our survey before Monday 2 March.
