Melbourne Uses Smart City Tech To Stay World’s Most Liveable Place

Melbourne is the world’s most liveable city. Smart technology and IoT are how it plans to stay that way as population grows

Melbourne is Australia’s second largest city after Sydney. The rivalry between the two takes many forms but while Sydney can lay claim to being the financial and media capital, Melbourne is seen as the country’s capital of sport and culture. 

The capital of Victoria also takes great pride in being named the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)’s ‘most liveable city’ since 2011.  

It attributes this success to its multicultural and youthful population, its cuisine, the high number of green spaces, the walkable nature of the city, the presence of the world’s most extensive urban tram system, its museums, its arts and its sports. 

It has the largest number of students in Australia and two thirds of its jobs are knowledge related. 

Melbourne wants to retain its title and believes smart city technology can help it achieve this. There are 4.5 million people in the greater Melbourne region, a figure which is expected to reach eight million by 2050. 

Chief digital officer Michelle Fitzgerald oversees the city’s smart city team which comprises 45 people. These include researchers, knowledge teams and an open data team tasked with turning Melbourne into a city of the future. It’s the largest such team in Australia. 

She told Smart IoT London that her team have deployed all the “usual suspects” in terms of smart city projects such as LED street lights, smart bins, an open data platform and pedestrian counter, but wanted to employ a “people-led” approach. 

Research conducted by her team found that the majority of people were concerned about congestion (traffic and housing) and safety. Fitzgerald wanted to engage with citizens to see what their priorities were and how to strike a balance between technological advancement and other considerations like privacy. 

“We don’t feel comfortable investing in hi tech when we can see people sleeping rough,” she said. “There needs to be a balance.” 

It’s this philosophy that led to one of her favourite smart city projects: the Internet of Trees.