Toronto – Sidewalk Labs will redevelop part of Toronto’s vacant waterfront into the world’s first ‘internet city’. The project ticks off all the boxes related to sustainability and cutting-edge technology.
While mayors throughout North America were scurrying last week
to meet Amazon’s deadline for applications to host the online
retailer’s second headquarters, in Toronto another big American
tech company, Google’s parent Alphabet, was already proceeding with
an ambitious plan to redevelop the city’s waterfront on Lake
Ontario. Last Tuesday, the government agency Waterfront Toronto and
Sidewalk Labs, a division of Alphabet, announced a $50 million
project called Quayside to develop a nearly 5-hectare parcel on
Lake Ontario. Sidewalk Labs executives and Toronto officials aim to
demonstrate how Silicon Valley know-how can address chronic urban
problems. “We believe that by leveraging technology and combining
it with really smart, people-centric urban planning, we could have
really dramatic impacts on quality of life,” said Daniel Doctoroff,
the chief executive of Sidewalk Labs who was deputy mayor of New
York City under Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “But you need to do it in
a place – ideally a place large enough to be a laboratory for an
integrated approach to innovation and planning.” The Toronto
waterfront project ticks off all the boxes related to
sustainability and cutting-edge technology. Carbon-neutral thermal
energy would heat the development. Machines would separate trash
from recyclable waste. Buildings would be modular so they can
convert from residential to commercial space as needed. Sensors on
street lamps and other fixtures would turn lights on and off,
monitor air quality and provide guidance to autonomous vehicles.
And heaters under sidewalks and bike paths would melt the snow in
the winter. But experts warned that Toronto officials will need to
oversee the project closely. Tech companies have failed to pursue
smart design in Northern California, where their headquarters in
San Francisco and San Jose have caused rents to skyrocket and where
their sprawling suburban facilities are often exemplars of bad land
use. The project also raises concerns about how Sidewalk Labs will
use the data it collects with all its sensors. By John Dyer