Industry and government collaborate to build 'The Future Street'

The Smart Cities Council Australia New Zealand (SCCANZ), the Internet of Things Alliance Australia and the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) are collaborating to build the street of the future in Sydney’s CBD.

The installation — The Future Street — is part of AILA’s national Festival of Landscape Architecture, a four-day celebration on conceiving, reimagining and transforming the outside world from streetscapes to parks and playgrounds, transport solutions to tourism strategies, to new suburbs and even cities.

SCCANZ Executive Director Adam Beck said, “This project provides us with the opportunity to show government, industry and the community the exciting outcomes from weaving the digital, natural and built environments together in this important public space, the street.”

AILA CEO, Shahana McKenzie, said, “The Future Street is the culmination of numerous converging ideas around landscape, infrastructure and technology that have resulted in a unique collaboration to help imagine the important role our streets can play in the future.”

The idea behind The Future Street originated from an event run by AILA and SCCANZ in late 2016, where a number of planning and design professionals gathered to reimagine the role of streets under a range of disruptions, such as climate change, autonomous vehicles and rapid technological change.

The third partner of The Future Street, IOTAA, has joined AILA and SCCANZ to help deliver a showcase of the Internet of Things (IoT). IOTAA CEO Frank Zeichner said, “This project provides the opportunity to showcase the benefit of IoT to our cities, economy and the community. IOT provides the opportunity to grow Australia’s competitiveness, innovation landscape and livability, by connecting data, devices, people, processes and things to the internet. It helps people make better and more informed decisions to get the best possible outcomes.”

The Future Street will open for public viewing during the Festival of Landscape Architecture, 12–15 October 2017, and showcase a range of landscape, IoT, utilities, transportation and urban design and place making features. The installation will be supported by a program of topical discussions and case studies. It is also planned that the installation will gather and report on real-time data, highlighting the capabilities of technology, and the effectiveness of various deployed strategies.