A University of Wollongong team has won a $50,000 research grant as part of efforts to help make our cities more “liveable, affordable and connected”.
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The Urban Development Institute of Australia hosted an event in Sydney last week, whereby eight finalists pitched their research proposal in an attempt to win a $50,000 grant.
The ‘City Life Labs Round Two Pitch Event’ sought to select the next technology focused projects to enable smart planning for the development of our future cities.
The best two project ideas were each awarded a $50,000 grant to help develop their projects collaboratively with UDIA NSW, with the objective to help “make our cities more liveable, affordable and connected”.
A University of Wollongong team from the SMART Infrastructure Facility, led by Dr Pascal Perez, was one of the winners.
The SMART Infrastructure Facility’s project was a proposal to utilise local knowledge and ideas for city improvement through gamifying the community engagement process.
“UDIA NSW will now work with the SMART Infrastructure Facility to develop their project into a tool that will change the way people comment on public spaces,” Keiran Thomas, UDIA Greater Western Sydney & Southern Region manager said.
“UDIA NSW is committed to supporting innovation in the design of our cities and it is great that a team from Wollongong has taken out the top prize… It shows our region produces world leaders in technology and the urban environment.”
The other successful pitch was ‘Geografia’, a project entailing real time tracking of urban heat, noise and air pollution to understand how current conditions affect local economic activity.
The judging panel included John Brogden, CEO of the NSW Government’s land and development agency Landcom, and Sarah Hill, CEO of Greater Sydney Commission.
UDIA NSW is a leading industry body representing the interests of the NSW property development sector.