Getting ready for smart regional spaces

Gaining traction in the 2000s (though the earliest examples date back to the late 1960s), the concept of the smart city — a dynamic network of digitally interconnected devices and services designed to improve urban life in a multitude of ways — continues to capture the imagination of Australian policymakers, with smart city projects currently underway in every capital city.

But what about regional spaces? Do they have a place in the smart city movement?

Up until very recently, in Australia at least, the answer seems to have been “no” — there is a marked digital divide between metropolitan and regional areas, according to the Australian Digital Inclusion Index. Seeking to redress the imbalance is Smart Regional Spaces: Ready Set Go!, a collaborative project between the University of Sydney, the University of New South Wales and the Department of Regional NSW, together with three local government partners: Lithgow City Council, Parkes Shire Council and Armidale Regional Council. Having commenced in March 2022, the project is set to run for 16 months, funded by a $2.2m grant from the Digital Restart Fund under the NSW Government’s Smart Places Acceleration Program.

Project Lead Associate Professor Nancy Marshall, from the University of Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning, said the primary aim of the Smart Regional Spaces project is to promote the concept of ‘smart readiness’ in regional NSW. The project has three key objectives: to advance the relevance and application of smart place resources for regional NSW; to create a smart knowledge network between national and international experts and regional NSW; and to launch a ‘Start Smart-Ready Program’ as a plan of action in regional and rural NSW.

“Up to now, the ‘smart cities movement’ has been all about urban areas and the challenges that come with high-density living, traffic congestion and city open space,” Marshall said. “That conversation needs to turn to the regional areas so that regional councils and communities can benefit from innovations in community management, infrastructure and the design of public spaces. The smart cities movement and its initiatives do not necessarily translate to the spatial scales, assets, budgets and distinctive regional contexts.”

Marshall and her fellow project team leads had been working together in the smart cities space since 2017, but wanted to shift the discourse to the regions and work towards decreasing the digital divide that exists between urban and rural Australia.

“This was an important extension to our thinking and practical experience. We want to have a positive impact in NSW and, hopefully, to regions beyond. We also wanted to bring global smart city experts and precedents into this conversation, which we are doing.”

Each of the three local council areas the team is working with had unique challenges and opportunities, which could variously be assisted or taken advantage of by smart systems.

Image caption: Armidale Visitor Information Centre. Image credit: Penny Vozniak

Armidale Regional Council has rich natural resources, including national parks and waterfalls, as well as historic buildings and landmarks. “It is a cultural and educational hub of the New England Region, with a thriving agri-business sector playing a pivotal role in its economic development. The council’s efforts in promoting sustainable agriculture and ecotourism have been commendable,” Marshall said.

“Lithgow City Council is going through a period of industrial transition, with its traditional mining industry giving way to new sectors such as advanced manufacturing, renewable energy and tourism. The Blue Mountains, which flank Lithgow, are a major drawcard for visitors to the region. The council is taking steps to ensure the wellbeing and economic prosperity of its community, including investing in digital infrastructure and supporting the growth of small and medium-sized businesses.

Image caption: Cook St Plaza, Lithgow. Image credit: Penny Vozniak

“Parkes Shire Council is a critical logistics hub, with major highways and rail lines passing through the town. It is both a mining and agricultural centre in the state. It is also home to the famous Elvis Festival, which attracts thousands of visitors annually. The Parkes Special Activation Precinct, one of six in regional New South Wales, aims to attract investment and create jobs in sectors such as advanced manufacturing, logistics and renewable energy.”

While many smart city projects focus on specifically enhancing infrastructure for the benefit of the community (for example, the City of Darwin’s ‘Switching on Darwin’ lighting and security camera initiative), the focus of Smart Regional Spaces “is not on the physical infrastructure itself, but rather on developing tools and resources to support the adoption of smart technologies”, Marshall said. To this end, the team has identified six key deliverables that should enable its partner councils to better understand and leverage the benefits of smart places. These are:

Online learning modules

• Developing a series of 12 digital smart places online learning modules that will inform and engage councils about the potential role of smart infrastructure and technology in enhancing people and place issues.
   

Sharing other smart initiatives

• Sharing smart initiatives from around the world that could inspire regional NSW.
   

Smart readiness tools

• Designing and testing smart readiness tools that are tailored to the unique needs of the partner councils. The team is identifying potential sites for smart technology implementation.
   

Creating a community of practice

• The three regional councils were invited to Sydney to observe and experience smart cities projects, precincts, programs and infrastructure in action. Several Sydney-based councils shared experiences during this urban expedition.
   

Bespoke smart strategies

• Developing smart strategies with each partner council that align with local and state priorities, and a smart strategy template that can be adapted by other regional councils.
   

Onsite training sessions

• Providing onsite training sessions for the partner councils, adopting a ‘see one, do one, teach one’ legacy model for technically solving local issues.
   

Image caption: View from Memorial Hill Lookout, Parkes. Image credit: Penny Vozniak

Devising ways to make rural areas ‘smart ready’ can be challenging. “Providing smart solutions to complex problems is very difficult when the infrastructure is still lacking in some rural locations,” Marshall said. There are two major reasons for this lack of infrastructure: small populations and actual physical geography.

In the case of the first, when “more users equals more money”, the incentive just isn’t there for private providers to cater for very small populations, “which is why the cities are over-subscribed for access and the regions aren’t”, Marshall explained.

“When we look at somewhere out in the middle of NSW, where there’s not the population base, for a private provider to use the hardware and the programs, you can see why they don’t do it if their main purpose is to make money as a company — and you can’t really blame them for that. So there are absolutely dead spots in the bush where they have no connectivity and you actually don’t have to get far out from the regional centres to find them.”

In an attempt to make things more equitable, the government sometimes does a deal with a private provider, or encourages different providers to work together, or provides the connectivity services itself. Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite system has also reportedly been a very helpful addition to regional connectivity, Marshall said.

Then there’s the second issue: the problem of physical geography. “A satellite has to go straight up,” Marshall said, “so if you’ve got a forest or mountains it’s really difficult to bounce signals through a landscape, because they want to go the shortest route possible but have to go up and over and back down rather than straight through.”

The NSW Government’s Gig State program is in the process of mapping out zones with zero or poor coverage, in order to try to make these priority areas. This lack of fundamental hardware remains the main challenge of creating smart regional spaces — when you can’t even get a connection on your phone two km out of Armidale, you can hardly “get into all the fun stuff like garbage collection and smart street furniture”, Marshall said.

“I think that is the biggest [issue] maybe that the urban dwellers don’t think of, because [connectivity] is just everywhere here [in cities]. When we were designing some of our tools, we would have gone a bit more fancy or high-tech, but there’s no point because out in the field, they really don’t have access to connectivity … so we’ve had to scale back some of our thinking just to be usable.”

The general response to the project in each area has been positive, however, with Marshall emphasising the importance of involving the community from the onset, as well as providing a springboard for councils to initiate further dialogue with the community around adoption of smart technology in public open spaces.

“We have had the opportunity to hear a diversity of voices — conservationists, educators, councillors, council staff, youth representatives, local business groups and not-for-profits — who have been incredibly enthusiastic about the possibilities of intersecting with smart technology as a way to enhance the social experience of places alongside improving efficiencies in resource and services management. Use of technology to improve community connectedness and livability have been other recurring themes emerging during our consultation sessions.”

Given the project’s intention is to facilitate rather than prescribe a course of action through specific technology, the team has let community needs, challenges and the places themselves be the determining factors for the type of technology that is best suited to each locality.

“We are exploring concepts such as digital place-making, smart environmental monitoring and IoT (Internet of Things) technology for better asset management capabilities as part of this project. Our partner councils have already engaged in various smart projects and trials so far, and we are happy to play a part in their ongoing journey within the smart places movement under this project,” Marshall said.

“The strong community ties in regional and rural towns, their insights on local places through their lived experience and the overall participation of the community at a grassroots level have all been encouraging aspects of our engagement with our regional partners. This all bodes well for increasingly ‘smart’ regional places.”

Smart Regional Spaces: Ready, Set, Go! team: Associate Professor Nancy Marshall, Associate Professor Kate Bishop, Dr Christine Steinmetz, Eshita Dutia, Dr Yuan Wei, Dr Sophia Maalsen, Professor Robyn Dowling.

Top image caption: Old Portland Cement Works, Portland, Lithgow, with portraits painted by Guido van Helten of past Portland Cement workers. Image credit: Penny Vozniak