CEDA, The University of Queensland and Global Foresight Network invite your participation in the Smart City Futures Project Survey.  The survey is designed to start a new conversation among cities at the 5th WTA General Assembly in Brisbane, ensuring a focussed and meaningful debate at the Assembly, centred around issues of importance to delegates as well as interested parties who would like to make a contribution but are unable to attend the Assembly.

 

Insights from the Smart City Futures Project Survey will help shape the themes of the Assembly and will be used to create and build a database of thought provoking ideas around Assembly themes and a focal question (detailed below).

 

We are interested in finding out from this survey what you believe are the critical things we will all need to know [knowledge] to create smart cities of the future, and what the key technologies are that will make a difference in shaping that future.

 

We have defined the word "smart" to mean "applying knowledge and technology in a conscious and deliberate way”.

 

As we started to plan this survey we were surprised to find there was no established knowledge base about cities of the future. Does each city have to invent every element of the future themselves or can we share knowledge and technologies better? We hope this survey and the conversation that follows will provide those cities and individuals who participate with a unique forum to be able to share information and interact with one another.

 

We have begun this project by asking the following focal question… “what is the kind of knowledge  we might invest in to create smart cities of the future and what are the key technologies that will make a difference?”. (If you don’t think that this is the right question, there is space in the survey for you to suggest what the question might be.]

 

As we began to think about this question several challenges emerged for us.  To start your thinking, these challenges are:

 

• Sustainability and footprint challenges for cities.
• The most important infrastructures for future cities.
• Energy futures.
• City economies.
• The management of mass impacts.
• Strong future communities.
• Smart city governance.

 

It seems to us that if we address these challenges properly then the natural, financial, man-made [infrastructure], human, and social capital of all our cities will increase.  These five streams of human capital form the framework for “The Future for Smart Cities Conference”, a culmination of the Smart City Futures Project, to be held on Day 2 of the Assembly. 

 

We would also like to invite submissions of relevant articles or case studies of interest.  Please send these to mark.fowler@globalforesight.net

 

We have commissioned the University of Queensland and Global Foresight Network to automatically receive, collate and summarise your survey responses. A synthesis of these responses will be posted on the www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/WTA website and we will be conducting a second survey to start to refine and prioritise the ideas that have been suggested.

 

So, in advance, thank you for your contribution of knowledge and ideas and time to complete this short survey.

 

This survey has been developed and run in partnership with: