Instinctively, you sort of just know whether a city is an agreeable place to live. Without necessarily being able to quantify why, you can, with a reasonable degree of confidence, take two different cities and identify what you like and dislike about each. But these factors aren’t coincidental, or the result of some natural phenomena – they’re the result of deliberate decisions made by governments, and the implementation by the companies they contract in to enact them. Today, metropolises that are particularly adept at improving their liveability, have become known as ‘smart’ cities.

In 2016, the then Turnbull government in Australia committed to a plan to transform all of Australia’s major urban hubs into smart cities. To some, this seemed unnecessary; according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index, Australia has long had some of the most liveable cities in the world. In the 2018 list, Brisbane and Perth both appear in the top 25 and 15 in the world respectively, Adelaide and Sydney are inside the top 10, and Melbourne has only just been dethroned as the most liveable city in the world by Vienna after seven consecutive years at the top of the rankings.

Admittedly different sources provide different rankings depending on their methodology, however the overall consensus is that Australian cities are great places to live. But this isn’t something that is going to remain true without some effort, and the federal and state governments are looking to maintain that status by investing smartly, to accommodate the rapid growth in the number of people looking to call our fantastic cities home.

So, what goes into making a city ‘smart’?

Well a smart city is a metropolitan, urbanised area that utilises data and technology to improve efficiencies, drive economic growth, and increase the quality of life, all through sustainable measures. Practically, there are numerous elements that contribute to this – urban design, traffic management, public transport, general infrastructure development, and many more. At the core of it, however, lies the use of data and analytics to hunt down inefficiencies, and to rectify them with technology-driven solutions. This means that smart cities are able to provide better services to their population, while simultaneously reducing their carbon footprint, and making them more efficient to travel across.

Australia’s proficiency in this regard has not gone unnoticed internationally, and it is considered to have some of the foremost expertise in this area. As a result, Australian companies such as Traffic Technologies have already secured contracts to provide services in existing intentional hubs which are looking to improve their citizen’s lives, such as Hong Kong and Shanghai, as well as being contracted to address the needs of rapidly expanding global gateway cities like Doha.

The company has also started to win contracts in Mexico, providing a foothold in North America, with a view to expansion into the United States. The company offers technical products to complement their more traditional signage division, servicing road traffic authorities, municipal councils and the construction industry. Listed on the ASX since 2005, they are responsible for the day-to-day implementation of the smart city vision, designed to make your everyday life easier, and your chosen city a more pleasant place to live.

Investors interested in learning more about smart cities can register to join the Traffic Technologies mailing list by registering here.

Traffic Technologies trades under the ASX code: ‘TTI’

*Reach Markets is paid a retainer to assist TTI with private investor management.