‘A fully functional community’: Smart city technology now operational in Googong

A $1.1 million federal government grant to install smart city technology in Googong is now operational with the township releasing a blueprint for developers, planners and councils on how other cities could roll out similar infrastructure.

Googong developers and the Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council won the Smart Cities and Suburbs Program grant in 2019 in a bid to create a high-tech neighbourhood, reduce everyday community service costs and empower other governments and private developers to create smarter cities, towns and suburbs.

Googong project director Malcolm Leslie said the new technology increases “liveability, sustainability, safety and amenity of place”.

“Smart-city infrastructure has been around for a little while, but Googong is the first development in Australia to roll out such technology on a large scale and across so many disciplines,” Mr Leslie said.

“All of the infrastructure that was planned and promised as part of the grant funding is now in and operational, it’s still only in its early days but it’s a fully functional community essentially.”

Technology embedded within the township’s five neighbourhoods include smart poles and lighting; smart parking; electric vehicle charging stations; public Wi-Fi; environmental monitoring; smart waste; smart barbecue; remote toilet locking and monitoring; long-range wide area network; and weather stations.

Smart technology uses artificial intelligence, machine learning and data to provide cognitive awareness to objects that are considered inanimate. It offers consumers interaction and control through the use of the internet.

The township is nestled near the Googong Dam on Old Cooma Road just over the ACT border in NSW, overlooking the Molonglo Ranges. Eventually, the town will be home to five suburbs, 18,000 residents and 6500 homes.

Its first suburb, Googong North, is already complete and construction began in 2018 on the second suburb, Googong Central.  

Googong Central will bring with it major supermarkets and a retail precinct, expected to open around 2024-25.

“In the last year, we’ve seen unprecedented levels of inquiries for land packages in Googong,” Mr Leslie said.

“New residents have seen the benefits of living in Googong [including] the smart cities infrastructure that shows our commitment to sustainability. When you address long-term problems with long-term solutions, you reap the benefits for generations to come.”