Governments and industry need to work closely together in order to leverage technology to deliver best possible outcomes in terms of smart cities, an industry roundtable has heard.

During a keynote address that was delivered as part of a private roundtable discussion hosted by the Smart Cities Council in partnership with Bentley Systems in Melbourne last month, former Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp shared her thoughts about how the public and private sector can work together in regard to smart city initiatives in order to leverage technology and data to deliver best possible outcomes.

Capp said that opportunities in this area should not be underestimated.

“Technology through collaboration has many brilliant ways in which we (cities and the private sector) can work more effectively together,” she said.

Capp’s comments come as cities around the world are seeking to leverage technology in order to become smart cities.

Essentially speaking, a smart city is a municipality that uses information and communication technologies (sensors, drones, robotics, AI, IoT etc.) as well as the data which is derived from these technologies to increase operational efficiency and to share information with the public.

The objective is to improve the provision of government infrastructure and services and to maximise the wellbeing and livelihood of the city’s residents.

Although are no fixed criteria for defining a smart city, Mobile Magazine reported in January last year that there are more than 140 smart cities around the world.

In its latest rankings of 142 cities, the International Institute for Management Development says that Zurich is world’s smartest city followed by Geneva and Canberra.

Capp’s comments also come as recognition of the benefits which are associated with smart cities is growing.

In Victoria, for example, a report released last month indicates that effective use of five technologies – machine learning/artificial intelligence, robotics, advanced imaging, advanced data analytics and geospatial technologies – could deliver billions of dollars’ worth of benefits between now and 2055.

(Thanks to use of technologies such as augmented reality for urban planning and artificial intelligence to bolster citizen safety and an online smart platform to enable residents to give inputs into the city’s development, Zurich is ranked as the world’s smartest city.)

Speaking of her own experience at the City of Melbourne, Capp says that the city has adopted smart city initiatives in several areas.

These include:

• Maintaining an open data platform which contains more than 200 sets of historic and real-time open data that is freely available for anyone to use. Data includes Census of Land Use and Employment information, population and jobs forecasts and real-time (or near) IoT sensor activity including pedestrian, parking and microclimate activity.
• Use of digital twins to assist in the design, planning, construction and operation of major projects such as the landmark Greenline project.
• Ongoing investment in emerging technologies to maximise project efficiency and to ensure the resilience of local infrastructure as it operates.
• Publication of a 3-D development activity model across the city’s boundaries. This enables property developers and community members to quickly and readily identify new commercial and residential building projects which are either under construction, approved for construction or awaiting the outcome of a permit in 3-d across the city’s boundaries.
• Creation of an Emerging Technology Testbed to work collaboratively with the private sector to explore how 5G and IoT might impact Melbourne ata city scale, a community scale, and at an individual level.

(Screenshot of the City of Melbourne 3D Development Activity Model. The model enables property developers and community members to readily idenify commercial and residential buildings that awaiting approval or in development across the City boundaries.)

However, Capp says that there are two points which cities should observe when going about creating a smart city.

First, while possibilities for emerging technology use are exciting, it is important to first focus on using existing technology to its full potential.

Whilst state and local governments are aware of Building Information Modelling (BIM), for example, BIM is not yet embedded in state and local government approval processes across Melbourne and Victoria at this stage.

This, Capp says, is problematic. Whilst many private sector organisations have embraced BIM as a way of working, the full benefits which are associated with the technology will only be realised if governments and the private sector are working together and using technology which is either similar or complementary.

Beyond that, Capp says it is important for the public sector to work more closely and collaboratively with the private sector.

In particular, she sees potential for technology to help to help unlock value from public private partnerships (PPPs).

According to Capp, if used effectively, the PPP process can deliver beneficial outcomes by leveraging the private sector’s capacity to assess, price and manage project risk in an effective manner.

Victoria has previously been a world leader in embracing PPPs. However, Capp says that increasingly PPS become more like standard procurement contracts amid a growing view from the public sector side about risk management being seen as an unnecessary cost.

She says that artificial intelligence and other technology could prove invaluable in unlocking a collaborative approach between the public and private sector. This would promote greater alignment and would help to unlock better outcomes for both public and private stakeholders.

For this to happen, however, Capp says that common language and platforms are needed. This starts with common goals along with a common understanding of desired project outcomes for all stakeholders and for the wider community.

“Another area for technology where I think from a government perspective we can make some really big bounds forward is around public -private partnerships; technology can move us back to being world leaders in PPPs here in Australia and particularly Victoria,” Capp said.

“We were mad about PPPs. I remember when I was a kid and Victoria and Australia were leading on public -private partnerships. When I was Agent General for Victoria in London, all sorts of people from across the UK would come to learn more about how Victoria did PPPs.

“We were so highly regarded for our capabilities.

“But I think the balance has completely shifted and we can use technology to help us get back to the forefront of PPPs working well. I’m concerned, and I can say this from my experience, that governments are really failing now to capitalise on the full benefit of involving private sector partners in big infrastructure projects.

“The abilities of the private sector to assess risk particularly and to manage risk and to price for risk is something that we are appreciating less in the way that we have gone about projects more recently. When private sector prices for managing risk, public sector often sees unnecessary costs and looks to cut those from budgets. This means that the private sector partners need to look for more guarantees or ask for more variations as the project unfolds or look for different time frames – all of which as costs.

“From my experience, I think we have started on the government side to miss the point of public -private partnerships and therefore missed the benefits of those partnerships.

“What excites me about the way technology can be used hopefully is that rather than PPPs looking more like traditional procurement processes, we can move back to really solving problems or preventing problems before they happen rather than having to invest more when it’s more expensive to solve problems later.

“Can technology and AI assist across the private and public divide in identifying and assessing and pricing risks so that it has a transparency, but it also creates a shared understanding for both parties on what those risks may be and why there is a cost in private sector managing those risks and therefore why private sector is better at managing those risks?

“(if so,) This would increase alignment and it would make much better outcomes for public and private stakeholders.”

(Digital twin technology is being used to inform the design, planning, construction and operation of Melbourne’s Greenline project.)

Asked about how collaborative partnerships can be undertaken in light of a general public and media which is often sceptical about private sector involvement with government including on smart city initiatives, Capp acknowledges that this is a challenge.

This is the case not only for smart city initiatives but also for many sectors which involve collaboration between the public and private sector, she adds.

Indeed, Capp says that a common tendency when faced with this is for public sector organisations to ‘shrink back and try to become the smallest target’. This para and the next two are repeated again at the end of the story.

Instead, however, Capp says the best approach is to be more transparent and to provide as much relevant information as possible to the public.

She says that many within the general public are more intelligent compared with what they are often given credit for.

In particular, Capp encourages an embrace of what is known as deliberative democracy. Under this approach, a small but representative sample of the population is enlisted to participate in a focused effort of feedback and consultation.

Reflecting on her time as Lord Mayor, Capp says that this was used in a particularly effective way on two occasions to deliver affordable housing projects within the City of Melbourne in areas in which such projects have been subject to considerable resistance.

As part of that process, 40 randomly selected residents and business owners came together and made a commitment of time to work with the city to engage in genuine feedback and consultation. This included being presented with an adequate amount of information, being able to ask questions of experts, listening to different perspectives cross the group and working through to develop resolutions including areas of compromise.

At the end of the process, Capp says that there was broad agreement about the need for more affordable housing across every part of the municipality.

“That is the core of the conundrum that we face,” Capp said, asked about perceptions of the general public when it comes to government and private sector collaboration.

“It’s one of the reasons why I think organisations like the Smart Cities Council are so important because they create environments across public and private sectors to have these conversations.

“But the point you make about then dealing with the public is really the most important. How can we take the great conversations that we have here (in forums like the Smart Cities Council) and that sense of courage that we’re going to do something and then translate that into public conversations, it’s difficult.

“By the way, this is not just for this sector (smart cities). On so many issues it is difficult.

“Reflecting on my own experience, what I tend to see happen is that in those situations, organisations – I’ll say this broadly – tend to shrink back and try to become the smallest target …

“… I think actually the better approach would be to provide more information, to be even more transparent, to actually give some credit to members of the public … and provide more information.”

The luncheon was hosted by the Smart Cities Council in conjunction with Bentley Systems.

Aside from Capp, speakers included Matt Gijselman, Director of Public Policy and Advocacy at Bentley Systems and Robyn Francis, Global Engagement Lead at the Smart Cities Council.

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