City of Canterbury Bankstown has officially started its journey to becoming an even smarter city, after adopting its Smart CBCity Roadmap, following nine-months of community consultation.

Mayor Khal Asfour said the roadmap acts as a guide for Council, businesses, non-government organisations and the community, to come together to discuss the City’s challenges, how a smart city can contribute to a more sustainable and liveable future, and how Council can best facilitate it.

“As the largest council area in NSW, by population, we have a responsibility and duty to pave the way forward and set the standard for smart cities state-wide,” he said.

“The Smart CBCity Roadmap demonstrates our commitment to building a smart framework for our great City, and show leadership in this space in not only NSW but Australia.

“Our Roadmap provides a very clear definition on what being a smart city means to us, using technology, connectivity and data to make real improvements for our community.”

The initiatives within the roadmap have been categorised into three areas:

Smart People – working towards an informed and engaged community, a culture of innovation and leveraging partnerships and stakeholders;Smart Places – monitoring how infrastructure is used and assessing how we can better maintain those places for our community; and​Smart Process – using data for continuous improvement to make real improvements, and establishing the correct plans, platforms and procedures, and developing policy that supports progress.

​“One of the initiatives that has already been established based on this thinking, is our Closing the Loop on Waste project,” Mayor Asfour said. 

“Waste is a major issue for many countries in the world and, while it is still early days, we are looking at how we can better deliver our waste management service to residents.”

With the help of a $1 million grant from the Federal Government, which Council has matched:

Advanced analytics will be used to detect bin contamination, identify when bins have been missed, and investigate illegal dumping;Data will be used to minimise potential delays on waste collection routes; and Residents will be able to request services or report incidents in real-time.

“This is all part of our focus on making Canterbury-Bankstown a smarter City, an even better place to live in, work in, visit and enjoy.”