Smart cities are a hot topic, but what is the substance beyond the hype? How does it work in real life? And is it leading us towards a ‘Big Brother’ type existence where our every move and action is under surveillance?

These urban hubs of the future are the subject of a paper to be presented by Landscape Architect Paul Knox from Complete Urban, at the IPWEA International Public Works Conference, to be held at the Perth Exhibition and Conference Centre from August 20-23.

“It was an opportunity for me to do a bit of research across the topic to see if I could make some sense of it, because it's an area full of jargon and there are some amazing claims being made about things,” explains Knox.

A smart city is defined as one that offers improved liveability through smart technologies, efficient transportation, infrastructure and planning and the sharing of data to improve services.

“Because there's so much data available in this technology, it can be analysed in such a way that makes the city work more efficiently,” says Knox. “So you'll hear things about intersections operating without traffic signals because smart technology cars can work out the optimum way for the intersection to operate; or light poles that will communicate back to base when the globe needs replacing,” he says. “People dream about every car on the roads of Sydney having three people instead of one because of the internet network allowing people to communicate and share transport.”

Beyond these futuristic forecasts, Knox is interested in what smart cities and big data mean in the here and now.

“There’s stuff available to buy now that has this technology in it – smart street poles for example, which can control parking, count people, things like that,” he says. “The question is, how do you make the decision of what and when to buy and how long is the technology going to last?”

Drawing from his own experiences with smart city technology on a project at the ANU in Canberra, Knox will reveal that there can be simple solutions to some of these complex questions.

“We’re designing a very long pedestrian route through the campus and every fourth pole that lights this path will be a smart pole,” he says. “They'll be able to be retrofitted with CCTV and have wi-fi boosters on them, and have other things such as historical information that can be activated by smartphone.  We can do that simply by putting a circle around every fourth pole and nominating it as a smart pole, providing access for things into it now and also conduit access for things that can be fitted in the future – it can be that easy. “

On a global scale, Knox will be showcasing cities that have been built on brownfield sites and integrated smart technology throughout, using the South Korean city of New Songdo as a blueprint.  

“I'm presenting a lot of information and video and sound about that so people can see the applications in it as an example of a city built smart from the ground up,” he says.

Knox asserts that when discussing smart cities, it’s also important to present the negative aspects of big data and in his paper, he’ll address the arguments of New York technology writer Adam Greenberg.

“He presents some very clear arguments about the potential dangers of this big data, seeing it more as a ‘Big Brother’ kind of thing which is surveilling our lives in a way that we're not aware of and possibly wouldn't be happy with,” says Knox

To learn more about smart cities, be sure to attend Knox’s presentation at the IPWEA International Public Works Conference.