Grange Planning Brain

title: “Smart City Framework” council: ballarat state: vic category: strategy status: adopted last_compiled: 2026-04-13 source_docs:

  • smart-city-framework.txt

Smart City Framework

The Smart City Framework is a high-level strategic document setting out Ballarat’s approach to integrating data, technology, and innovation into city management and service delivery. It uses a “learn by doing” practical approach.

Structure

The framework aligns with four Council Plan pillars: Liveability, Prosperity, Sustainability, and Accountability.

Six principles:

  1. Community Focus — user-centred design, respectful of Ballarat’s heritage and cultural values
  2. Collaborative Approach — partnerships with stakeholders, community, and partners
  3. Learn by Doing — agile design-thinking in unknown environments
  4. Open by Default — open, interoperable data and infrastructure with privacy/security safeguards
  5. Share the Knowledge — stories and lessons to promote Ballarat as an innovation hub
  6. Branding and Comms — co-creation and delivery supports

Five foundations:

  1. Shared understanding of community challenges
  2. An engaged innovator ecosystem (entrepreneurs, university, private and public sectors)
  3. Building city data assets (managed as strategic assets)
  4. Co-creation and delivery supports (agile methods, supportive leadership)
  5. Branding and storytelling

Roadmap:

  • Now (2018): StartUp Ballarat, Smart Planning, Ballarat as a test bed + enablers (Data Strategy, Agile Process, IoT Network, Governance, Open Data, Branding)
  • Next (2019): Smart Waste, Smart Lighting, Smart Mobility + enablers (Smart Procurement, Open Innovation, City Lab, CityDeal, City Data)

Planning Relevance

Limited direct planning scheme implications. The “Smart Planning” initiative references the use of data and technology in planning processes. The framework supports the Prosperity Framework’s vision for an innovative, technology-driven city.

Current Status

Adopted (~2018). The framework predates the current Council Plan cycle and some initiatives may have been superseded or absorbed into business-as-usual operations. No updated version identified in the corpus.

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