Hi #smartcommunity friends! In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast I have a great conversation with Chris Manoski. Chris is the Senior Coordinator for Place and Engagement at Cumberland City Council, and proudly born and raised in Western Sydney. In this episode we begin by Chris telling us about his background growing up in Western Sydney, his current role at Cumberland City Council, and his passion for making change for the better. Chris then tells us what inspired him to work in the social sector as well as his love for tech and the Smart City space, what a Smart Community means to him, and he discusses what he believes makes Smart Community strategies and programs successful. Chris then tells us a bit about the Cumberland City Council Smart Cities journey, some of the projects he has been working on as well as the changes he has seen in the space recently, before he discusses the key foundations required to enable smart furniture applications. We finish our chat discussing the emerging trends of business to business selling models through tech and open data. As always, we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it! 

Listen here: 

What we cover in this episode:

• Chris’s background growing up in Western Sydney, and his current work as Place and Engagement officer at Cumberland City Council 
• His passion for making change for the better, making places more accessible and well designed cities 
• What inspired Chris to work in the social sector and his love for tech and the Smart Cities space 
• What a Smart Community means to Chris 
• The key factors Chris believes makes Smart Community strategies and programs successful through engagement 
• A bit about Cumberland City Council’s Smart Cities journey 
• Some of the projects Chris has been working on and the changes he has seen in the Smart Cities space recently 
• Some of they key foundations required to enable smart furniture applications
• The emerging trends of business to business selling models through tech and open data 

Quotes: 

“I’m very passionate about making change for the better, being better places, accessible places, better communities, and especially well designed cities. And I personally get the most satisfaction when I take people through the changes from the beginning, all the way through to the end. And I love seeing tangible outcomes that we all create as a community.”

“I’m still sold in the Smart Cities and smart places concept and what it can do for the community sector. And I’m a huge advocate for the space. And the best part of Smart Cities is it’s multidisciplinary. It doesn’t matter what space you’ve come from, your expertise in the subject matter experience has a place on the agenda. And that’s what I really love.”

“[Smart Communities] starts with co-designing with key stakeholders and in my opinion, the key stakeholder is your average Joe. I definitely believe that in order for a Smart Community to work, there needs to be at a minimum, a strong community engagement and getting feedback from those mums or dads who shop locally. The young student who uses the internet to get information about when the next bus is coming at the bus stop and most importantly, I think seniors who, in my opinion, are the key stakeholders of the agenda, because those are the ones going through the toughest change of using technology in the day to day life.”

“I’m seeing a huge gravitational pull towards the concept of Smart Places. This is evolved from Smart Cities. And I think it’s really encouraging to see the transformation of Smart Cities, because it was a macro agenda, and now it’s being scaled into the micro, under the labels of Smart Places, or a Smart Community.”

“The idea of sharing your data through digital twins or an open data platform, doesn’t just create simplicity in sourcing information, but helps the residents see what’s available for them. And selfishly as a council worker, that allows us to make decisions for planning our cities, and [to make] more informed decisions on what our community needs, and especially what they want as well.”

“That’s one thing that I think Cumberland is doing differently, by giving everyone a seat at the table. And we don’t want to just write a strategy for the point of writing one, we want to get it right.”

Links: 

Cumberland City Council Website 

Connect:

Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community 

Connect with Chris via LinkedIn or email: Christopher.Manoski@cumberland.nsw.gov.au 

Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community  

Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube

The Smart Community Podcast is produced by Perk Digital