The nation's smallest capital city has just finished one of the largest and fastest rollouts of "smart" technologies in the country, a move which has drawn warnings from a technology expert.

Key points: Darwin has just finished a $10 million rollout of "smart city" technology

Darwin has just finished a $10 million rollout of "smart city" technology Privacy experts question the appropriateness of cities rolling out Chinese-inspired surveillance technologies in Australia

Privacy experts question the appropriateness of cities rolling out Chinese-inspired surveillance technologies in Australia The Darwin City Council said the technology would help people feel safer and create new opportunities for business in the city

The $10 million Switching on Darwin project has rolled out more than 900 "smart" LED lights, 24 environmental sensors, parking sensors, free wi-fi and a network of 138 new CCTV cameras throughout the Darwin CBD.

It is part of a broader council strategy to make Darwin a so-called "smart city", the first in Australia, and inspired by a Chinese model.

Lord Mayor of Darwin Kon Vatskalis said the technologies would make Darwin a better place, and concerns over privacy and data security had been overblown.

"As for the conspiracy theorists, I'll say once again, there's no facial recognition, we don't have Chinese equipment, our cameras can't tell who you are and what you do," he said.

"[If you worry about privacy] don't get a licence, give away your credit cards, and get out of Facebook."

Data collected to be made publicly available

The Darwin City Council said data would be used to help the council, businesses and residents learn more about the city and make better decisions.

For example, the council said they would be able to track the ways pedestrians and cars moved through the city and what time and where people logged on to wi-fi.

He said the council would make this data publicly available for businesses and residents.

Members of the council have travelled to China on multiple occasions in recent years, including a trip in May, where the Lord Mayor and council staff attended a Smart Cities forum organised by controversial Chinese technology company Huawei and the city of Shenzen.

Darwin councillors attended a forum organised by Chinese company Huawei. ( Reuters: Philippe Wojazer )

Telstra enterprise NT general manager Brad Hatton said the project was a first in Australia.

"The smart Darwin project is the largest single rollout of smart city technology anywhere in the country, it's also been the fastest rollout ever achieved anywhere in the country," he said.

'Smart cities or surveilled cities?'

In Darwin, concerns over crime and safety are well documented, especially in the wake of last week's mass shooting, and the council said smart technologies would help to keep the city safe.

But University of Western Australia law and technology expert Associate Professor Julia Powles said some of these claims were untested.

"Do we know, for example, that a couple of hundred CCTV cameras materially changes security? There's no evidence of that," she said.

Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis has defended Darwin's new technology rollout. ( ABC News: Anita Lakatos )

She said a true smart city would be one where the introduction of new technologies was based on evidence.

"We seem to be incapable of, I think, dealing with the evidence base, of what works and what doesn't," she said.

"And then thinking perhaps a bit more innovatively than other places, like China, that have gone down a certain route of technologies.

"We're creating not smart cities in many ways, but surveilled cities, cities where there's constant monitoring, and evidence shows that that really fundamentally changes how people operate and exist in cities."

Should we be concerned?

Some have questioned whether Australians are prepared for the introduction of futuristic digital technologies into their city spaces.

Ms Powles said councils were not always aware of the consequences of new technologies they were adopting and new data-monitoring technologies required proactive policy changes.

"The policies that are in place haven't been updated since at least 18 months ago, before this project was implemented," she said.

"The challenge will be having put in place a really quite intrusive surveillance architecture, to show to citizens that this is going to be very incrementally and carefully implemented in the city and based on evidence."

The nation's smallest capital city has just finished one of the largest and fastest rollouts of "smart" technologies in the country. ( ABC News: Anita Lakatos )

Smart Cities Council Australia chief executive Adam Beck said the reporting around issues of privacy and data security in smart cities needed to be balanced.

He said comparisons between Darwin and Shenzen's social credit system were totally overblown.

"I think the work that Darwin is doing is very comprehensive, there's a data governance layer being weaved into the 'Switching on Darwin' project," he said.

"There's no reason we can't have technology and data deployment that's best in class, but also respects and ensures that privacy, transparency and security are at the heart of what we do."