Smart Cities Institute

Presentation by Professor Peter Newton FASSA

Research Professor in Sustainable Urbanism

Swinburne University of Technology

Friday 15 April 2016

Smart CitiesProcess and concept

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Process to date:• Sept. 2015 Institutes Working Group identify prospective Institutes (5), including Smart Cities• Oct. 2015 Swinburne Institutes Model announced• Nov. 2015 Smart Cities Working Group meeting (comprising 20 research active Professors from all

Faculties and relevant Centres → Draft Synthesis Report → Feedback → Final Report• Mar. 2016 Smart Cities Stakeholder Workshop (comprising 14 CEO/Senior Executive

representatives from government and industry; 8 Swinburne Professors)• Apr. 2016 Staff Research ForumSmart Cities Concept:Smart Cities is viewed as an ‘umbrella’ term that represents a wide spectrum of research capable of embracing part or all of the following dimensions: smart ICT (digital technologies eg. computing, comms, sensing, big data, e-services etc), smart infrastructure (ie ICT plus urban networks/utilities; eg. transport, communications, energy, water, waste etc .. see Smart Cities Council partners), & smart cities (meshes smart ICT and smart infrastructure with technology-enabled people-centred research capable of delivering transformative change in cities aligned to Australian COAG performance objectives (productive, competitive, liveable, equitable, resilient, sustainable).

Smart Cities

Raison d’etre(from Stakeholder Workshop

facilitator’s report)

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Context for Institute’s mission: big cities grappling with a set of critical issues:

PEOPLE: Population (growth, ageing); Mobility (adequacy of transport infrastructure, congestion, access to services, carbon signatures – active transport, EVs); Participation (equity of access, engagement, new social media); Health (lifestyles and health care); Prosperity

PLACE: Retrofitting/ regeneration/ renewal of built environment; Access (to jobs, services); Affordability (housing); Sustainability/resilience/adaptability; Productivity

SOCIETAL/STRUCTURAL: Climate change; New technologies; Digitalisation (city of bits); Social complexity & cohesion; Urban Governance (outdated processes); Fiscal stress

Institute challenge: understanding the vision, challenges and problems linked with key city stakeholders and matching with Swinburne researchcapabilities

Smart CitiesResults of Researchers’ Smart City Working Group

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Objective:Institute research should focus on a set of grand challenges for large, fast growing cities (in Australia and globally) that require trans-disciplinary socio-technical research teams drawing on capabilities in three thematic research areas supported by a Digital Innovation Platform and a cross-cutting knowledge cluster on new urban governance processes capable of enabling transformative change

KnowledgeCluster

New urban governance processes for socio-technical transformation(legal, financial, regulatory, engagement, decision-making etc)

Thematic 1 Future urban mobility

Research 2 Smart spaces for home and work

Areas 3 Future urban infrastructure, services and delivery systems

Digital Platform Big data access, integration, analytics, visualisation……

Smart Cities

Thematic Research Area : Future Urban Mobility: making cities accessible to their resident populations; reducing congestion and enhancing economic productivity; decarbonising urban travel; improving human health

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Identified areas of research capability:

Complex systems modelling of existing land-use and transport in cities and alternative/future urban forms, densities etcTransport demand/supply modelling for existing and future scenarios of potential shifts in both demand and supply ; identifying pathways for shaping future mobility behavioursEmerging modes of urban mobility (eg. AVs…assessing their comparative economic, social and environmental attractiveness …for different urban locations/fabrics, populations etc)Social surveys, data mining, econometric and choice modellingLow/zero emission transport solutions (eg. EVs, active transport)Smart mobile citizenry (management of movement in different types of urban location/ built environment; shared mobility on demand services)ITS, smart signalling, route optimisation

Smart CitiesThematic Research Area : Smart Spaces for Home and Work: micro-scale redesign of indoor environments (where populations in advanced societies spend >95% of their time) in anticipation of changing demographics and industry futures

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Identified areas of research capability:

Social science research directed towards understanding the changing space

and service needs of rapidly changing urban populations – as they age (across

all life cycle stages, but with particular reference to an ageing society and its

challenges of urban living related to dementia, disability, mobility etc), and

become more socially and culturally diverse etc

Micro-design (retrofit) options for adaptation of housing (and workplaces);

interior redesign, energy efficient retrofits;

Future working environments eg. hospitals of the future (modular, green, smart

ICT, robotics)

Smart housing, smart appliances, smart meters, smart home operating

systems, wearables….and how to make fast fail assessments of their

utility/attractiveness to potential consumers/users; data capture and analytics to

better understand in-home activities (social practices, behaviour….key to

behaviour change programs)

Smart Cities

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Thematic Research Area : Future Urban Infrastructures & Delivery Systems: traditional modes of building design and assembly and network infrastructure delivery are

failing in the face of major eco-efficiency challenges (cost + environmental performance) and

outmoded governance systems. Disruptive systems are emerging and need to become

mainstream. ICT creating new tools for virtual design & management of built environment/

urban infrastructures

Identified areas of research capability:

Building and precinct information modelling

Modular assembly of buildings

Precinct scale design and retrofit (buildings, energy, water, green infrastructure

etc.)

Distributed energy and storage (solar PV, battery storage,microgrids etc);

planning and management of hybrid energy systems

Rapid design & prototyping (visualisation, performance assessment, 3D printing)

New governance and engagement models for institutional and community

stakeholders in support of co-design

Design for deconstruction and reuse/recycling of materials

Extending the life of infrastructure through smart retrofit techniques

Smart Cities

Knowledge Cluster: New urban governance processes for socio-technical transformation: the types of urban innovation required of cities to meet 21st century challenges will

continue to confront major barriers to change unless new models and processes are

created for socio-technical transition.

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Identified areas of research capability:

Corporate social responsibility, regulation, internet enabled multi-stakeholder

communication, new modes of community engagement , integrated TBL

assessment, risk assessment and risk sharing, systems for sustainable

procurement, leadership and social entrepreneurship, system performance

monitoring and reporting.

The mix of disciplinary research capabilities in this area would be drawn from

social sciences, economics, business, law, social and public policy, information

and business systems, leadership and entrepreneurship studies – and directed

towards new models and processes by which social, design and technological

innovation can be more effectively implemented into city planning, delivery and management programs.

Smart Cities

Digital Innovation Platform: Digital Information Platform for Smart Cities

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Swinburne capabilities relevant to Smart Cities:o Data, user, text and visual analytics

o Algorithms to process large and interconnected data sets such as graphs

o Extracting insights from data by trend identification and simplified yet effective

presentation

o Efficiently processing data that arrives at high speed from sensors, networks or

log files (data streams)

o Developing learning methods and real-time recognition from smartphone sensor

inputs

o Building novel approaches to unify data from multiple sources and with different

formats or levels of detail

o Effectively using distributed systems and cloud computing to store and

communicate Big Data

Smart CitiesSwinburne Research Centres and Labs linked to Smart Cities

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Current Research Centres represented by individual research ‘affiliates’ are: • Centre for Advanced Internet Architectures; • Centre for Design Innovation; • Centre for Social Impact Swinburne; • Centre for Sustainable Infrastructure; • Centre for Transformative Innovation; • Swinburne Institute for Social Research; and • Swinburne University Centre for Computing and Engineering Software

Systems

There are several research laboratories that are potentially aligned to research themes aligned to Smart Cities:CDI Lab, Smart Structures lab, Smart Mobility Lab, Design Factory, Factory of the Future, CISCO Lab, CATI Lab, Intelligent Transport systems lab, EV Lab, Designfor Aging (L5 ATC), SSI Lab, Software Innovation Lab

Smart CitiesFormal Links to Established National Research Centres of Relevance to Smart Cities:

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• Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre

• Co-operative Research Centre for Low Carbon Living

• Co-operative Research Centre for Spatial Information

• Co-operative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities

• AUTO CRC

• Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN)

• Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI)

• Bushfire CRC

• CSIRO/NICTA /Data61 • ITS Australia

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