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AU Local Authority first; Sensor Integrated Site Management and Community Dashboards for Environmental Impacts

Parramattas Community Dashboard 2

Parramatta Council has put residents at the heart of the flagship development of a 25 hectare / 5,000 home new suburb, Melrose Park. By siting 70 environmental sensors throughout the construction site and surrounding residential streets, conditions including temperature, humidity, air quality, noise and stormwater will be monitored to ensure Developer compliance and to understand environmental impacts in the longer term. [ui!] APAC provides the urban data platform and visualisation tools that brings the diverse data together and delivers the Council, Developers and residents with sensor integrated site management and reporting dashboards.

Parramatta Mayor Bob Dwyer said the Smart Planning for Climate Responsive Neighbourhoods scheme, launched in October, was a first for local government in Australia and could change the way new suburbs and cities were designed, built and managed.

"By using state-of-the-art technology to monitor the environment in and around Melrose Park throughout the construction process, we will be able to make more informed decisions in the planning of future suburbs."

A digital windsock has been installed to gather real-time information about weather conditions including wind speed, temperature, humidity, air quality, noise, rainfall and UV index data. A sensor has been located on a buoy in the Parramatta River to collect water quality data.

The real-time data, which paints a picture of the health of the suburb and its surrounding environment, can be viewed on the community dashboard on the council's website.

The information gathered is analysed on the urban data platform and used to understand the impacts of development on the surrounding area, to improve the suburb's liveability in the long term, and inform future planning.

"What we learn from the data collected throughout the construction process at Melrose Park will serve as a blueprint for future developments," Mayor Dwyer said.

Melrose Park is a large (25-hectare) brownfield site with construction occurring over the next 10 years. The former industrial site has provided the Council with the unique opportunity to engage smart technology to monitor the environment before, during and after construction.

This project is a testing ground for the City of Parramatta to measure current development planning and regulatory practices, supported by real-time continuous data.

The project is backed by a £300,000 grant from the Australian Government as part of the Smart Cities and Suburbs Programme. The project partners include the property developer PAYCE, [ui!] APAC, M Projects, ESRI Australia and the University of Technology Sydney.

UTS Institute for Sustainable Futures senior research consultant Andrew Tovey said the project was a strong foundation for future research and collaboration "that can be scaled up or down to other urban developments around the country."

To see more about the Smart Planning for Climate Responsive Neighbourhoods project click here to see the Council’s YouTube post: https://youtu.be/hUylp4II4NQ

The community dashboard, which displays this real-time data, can be viewed by following this link: View the community dashboard.

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