Smart City

Smart cities are cities which use data, technology, novel ideas, and collaboration to solve problems. The world is facing unprecedented challenges including climate change, population growth, and health outbreaks such as the COVID-19 pandemic. In our changing world, it is vital that our approach to planning and managing our City is efficient, effective and adaptable.

Our vision for Parramatta is a thriving hub where people connect, collaborate, and exchange ideas. Building on the long-term vision established in our Community Strategic Plan 2018-2038 (CSP) and through consultation with the community and stakeholders, the draft Smart City and Innovation Strategy outlines our plan to make this vision a reality.

Cities that embrace smart and innovative solutions can see improved outcomes in areas such as sustainability, economic growth, and quality of life for residents, workers and visitors. For example, cities that use smart grid technology have shown reductions in energy consumption, and cities that implement smart public transportation systems have less congestion and better air quality.

Council is responsible for directly delivering smart city programs, for working with partners like the NSW Government to co-deliver programs, and for advocating to other organisations to support our smart city vision.

We are guided by our Smart City Advisory Committee who provide independent advice on our smart city planning. The Committee is made up of the Lord Mayor (Chair) and five smart city experts.

Council is also a signatory of the NSW Smart Places Customer Charter, which guides our community-first principle to ensure that our city is built for people and designed with people.

Read more about the NSW Smart Places Customer Charter here

What are we doing?

Future Village received funding from the NSW Government to partner with City of Parramatta to run a trial to make our places more comfortable on hot days through natural cooling. Round 1 was completed in summer 2024 and round 2 is happening now in summer 2025.

We are testing the idea that planter boxes with trees, grass and native plants, can simulate the cooling impacts of a planted garden in spaces where a permanent park isn’t possible. The planter boxes also allow us to move the gardens around, changing the space to allow for events to happen or to test different layouts.

Parramatta and Centenary Squares were selected for the trials because they are spaces that are loved and well by our community, but the public domain has a lot of paved spaces that get very hot in summer!

How do we know if it’s working?

Sensors are placed in and above the planter boxes to test whether they are making a difference to the temperature.

We also asked community members, and they said that they loved seeing the greenery and wanted to see more.

You can let us know what you think about this trial by clicking the button below.

What do we know so far?

Results from a smaller, round 1 trial showed a huge difference between the temperature of the tiles and the temperature of the planter boxes. This thermal camera image shows the impact the planter boxes can make. We want to know what kind of an impact a bigger number of planters can create!

Community members in round 1 said that they loved seeing the greenery and wanted to see more. The average rating was 4.55/5. Everyone agreed that the planters improved the look and feel of the space and a majority agreed that they cooled the place down. All participants also said that they wanted to see more trials like this in their local area.

For any further feedback about Council’s smart city work, please contact the Smart & Innovation team at innovation@cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au