In this episode of The Smart City Podcast, I interviewed Brisbane lover and fellow founding member of SCCei.This chat with Zanthea was great and I felt a real theme of being a catalyst for change, which I loved! Zanthea is passionate about connecting people in the Smart City space and has some great ideas of where to pilot Smart Tech. You’ll hear about Zanthea’s love for Brisbane and how we can put Brisbane on the Smart City map. Zanthea and I also discuss the importance of face-to-face connections as we get more and more invested in tech.

Listen here:

Quotes:

“we are shaping the future…we are the ones that are going to be the decision makers…change is inevitable…and I don’t want to be left behind”

“This is what Smart Cities means to me: it’s a new start, it’s an opportunity for change, it offers a lot more than what is currently out there”

“Cairns is…this dichotomy of environment and industry…which makes a really good ground for trying new things”

“Brisbane can be a leader…there are a lot of passionate people…there’s a lot of great work going on, that can be integrated into [Smart City] principles and what we are wanting to achieve…if we can create our own flavour through Smart Cities, we will be leaders”

“face-to-face connections are going to be more valuable and more meaningful so how we foster that in a Smart City, is something that we need to think about…it’s a very fine line”

What we covered:

• Zanthea’s background in urban planning and her love for connecting with people
• How and why she became interested in Smart Cities
• Discussion about Smart Cities Council Emerging Innovators
• Creating greater understanding with Virtual Reality (VR) and app creation
• Being a catalyst for Zero Waste and plastic reduction
• Digital healthcare records and the challenges involved
• The diversity of the Smart Cities space and the human-centric approach
• Loving Brisbane and making it a Smart City
• My thoughts on ranking Smart Cities
• Why Cairns is a great place for Smart City tech
• Removing egos to move forward
• Brisbane becoming leaders and focus on innovation
• Finding a balance between tech and face-to-face connections

Links:

Smart Cities Council Emerging Innovators (SCCei) email, Twitter and Instagram

Plastic Bag Ban https://www.qld.gov.au/environment/pollution/management/waste/plastic-bags

Connect:

You can connect with Zanthea email: zanthea.chulio@gmail.com and LinkedIn

Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community

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

Podcast Production by Perk Digital