↑ Sidewalk’s smart city plan required “ubiquitous sensing”, which brought up privacy concerns. (Photo: Getty Images)
by Meehna Goldsmith – 24 Dec. 2019
Sidewalk Labs and Toronto Plan to Build Smart City From the Ground Up
For all of our smart, interconnected technology to work to full potential, we need a smart city to coordinate and process all that data. There are already “out-of-the-box” systems on the market that utilize existing infrastructure. For autonomous transportation to become a reality, cities will have to be “wired” to process the massive amounts of incoming data.
Retrofitting cities to become smart is doable, but also complicated and expensive.
Building smart cities from the ground up with integrated and thoughtful design combined with state-of-the-art materials creates a better chance for success.
But, what if you could start with a blank sheet of paper? Build a smart city from the ground up instead of trying to retrofit one. In theory, you’d get a much smoother interface with state-of-the-art technology. And, that’s essentially what Sidewalk Labs wants to do with its Quayside project in Toronto, as reported by The Star.
A mixed-use smart city on the waterfront
Quayside is the proposed name of the tech-driven residential and commercial district that Sidewalk wants to build on a 12-acre plot of land on Toronto’s waterfront. Presuming the plan goes through, the fund will launch and make investments next year. According to The Star article, Sidewalk said in a statement that capital will go to Canadian smart city technology companies focused on creating solutions for such high-level concerns as traffic congestion, affordable housing and sustainability.
Owned by Google parent company, Alphabet, Sidewalk Labs has partnered with Plaza Ventures to form a fund geared towards kickstarting early stage smart city technology companies in Canada. Called the Quayside Venture Partners, it will include a $10 million dollar check from Sidewalk. 50 per cent of the money beyond Sidewalk’s contribution is supposed to come from Canadian investors. However, the fund won’t trigger unless the Quayside plan developed by Sidewalk gets approvals from Waterfront Toronto and other government agencies.
“This fund is meant to empower Canada’s growing urban tech ecosystem to take advantage of our Toronto project and to scale up as the Quayside neighbourhood Toronto project is built,” said Nicole LeBlanc, Sidewalk Labs’ Director of Investments, in a statement in the article.
Sidewalk Labs shows how it plans to build a smart city from the ground up on Toronto’s waterfront. (Video: YouTube)
Sidewalk overstepped
But, an article in the Financial Times notes concerns arose from privacy advocates and local activists when Sidewalk Labs got a little too ambitious. Instead of submitting plans for the 12-acre site set aside for the project, the company came back with a 190-acre “Idea District” on the waterfront. The city agencies deemed it a “land grab” and Sidewalk Labs came back with a new proposal for the 12 acres.
In addition, Sidewalk Lab’s futuristic vision, which includes autonomous cars, moving sidewalks and underground delivery robots, relied upon “ubiquitous sensing,” which meant Sidewalk Labs would be collecting and managing data on everything from “rubbish disposal to park benches.” Waterfront Toronto has stepped in to take the lead in setting up privacy protections and will work with Sidewalk Labs to come up with a new “Innovation Plan,” based on Sidewalk Labs’s earlier proposals.
Waterfront Toronto plans to complete its review of Sidewalk Labs’s revised plans in March 2020 and make a final decision if the project will move forward and have a chance to be signed off on by relevant Canadian government agencies.
WHY THIS MATTERS
The transportation systems of the future rely upon smart cities. The Quayside project is an opportunity to take concept to reality in a controlled situation. If successful, it could set the standard for other cities in the country and around the world.
View original article at ride.tech
Toronto’s smart city project with SideWalk Labs and a property development company, Plaza Ventures, has become a paradigm of what to do and not to do in terms of a comprehensive & hollistic smart city amibtion and plan.
The three parties involved are still seeking a way forward to meet their individual organisational objectives while promoting a credible promise to the inhabitants and stake holders in the Waterfront community.