SYDNEY, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Sydneysiders have been given a glimpse into the future on Friday, at an urban exhibition that imagines what the streets of the harbor city will look like in the year 2037.
Smart Cities Council, a government-led organization tasked with mapping the future of urban development in Australia, along with the Institute of Landscape Architects and the Internet of Things Alliance Australia, developed the Future Street display to show the public that its streets could be "more productive."
"It takes some time to change, but we want to embrace the concept of green streets and smart streets," executive director of the Smart Cities Council Adam Beck told Xinhua.
"We actually took a lot of inspiration from Asia."
"A lot of Asian countries have really embraced green streets, urban tree canopy coverage and biophilia, but equally there is a lot of technology being deployed throughout the streets of places like China and that's where things like driverless vehicles, the internet of things and connective devices come in."
Among some of the concepts on display at the Future Street exhibition are self-driving public transport, electric cars and interactive play equipment for children.
There are also park benches that are internet enabled and allow passersby to charge their phone and laptop devices, as well as a street bins which are equipped with computer sensors.
"They can detect how full they are and send a message to the depot as to when to pick them up," Beck said.
"They can even say thank you when kids put rubbish in them!"
The four day exhibition runs until Sunday.
