Alphabet's Sidewalk Labs unveils plans for Toronto smart city expansion

The project promises to bring "a comprehensive approach to digital innovation" but faces privacy and surveillance concerns.

On Monday, Alphabet's Sidewalk Labs, the commercial urban design arm, unveiled a long-awaited proposal for a massive, technology-driven transformation of Toronto's eastern waterfront. The smart city initiative, Sidewalk Toronto, boasts that it can "break new ground in nearly every dimension of urban life," including mobility, sustainability, public space, architecture and digital innovation. .

"It includes the first community built entirely from mass timber, dynamic streets that can adapt to the community's changing needs, weather mitigation systems, and thermal grids for heating and cooling," reads the Sidewalk Toronto website. The project says it will create "a global model that combines cutting-edge technology and great urban design to significantly improve the quality of life."

Development of the project will begin in the two communities of Quayside and Villiers West. Sidewalk Labs predicts that this phase of the project will cost $3.9 billion, with the company investing $900 million. The project may then expand to two neighborhoods near Toronto's waterfront, which Sidewalk Labs calls "creative districts."

Sidewalk Labs' proposal has been 18 months in the making and is more than 1,500 pages long. Still, it faces resistance from leaders in Toronto. Because they worry about a variety of issues, including privacy and surveillance issues.

For some parts of the plan, "Waterfront Toronto and Sidewalk Labs have very different views on what is needed to complete the project," Waterfront Toronto board chair Stephen Diamond wrote in an open letter on Monday. Also included are Sidewalk Labs’ initial recommendations on data collection, data use and digital governance.

Waterfront Toronto, a publicly funded organization, has partnered with Sidewalk Labs in the early research stages of this project. However, Diamond stressed in his letter that the group "did not co-develop" the draft Master Innovation and Development Plan (MIDP) Sidewalk Labs released on Monday. The MIDP project must receive approval from the Waterfront City Board of Toronto and Toronto City Council before it can move forward.

Meanwhile, as CNET noted, a number of consultants on the Sidewalk Labs project resigned last year over data collection issues, including former Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner Ann Kavokian.

Sidewalk’s proposed solution to the data collection problem is to form an independent, government-endorsed “Urban Data Trust” that would act as a steward of city data and the public good without “stifling innovation.” It will be subject to a "rigorous data use" review process.

Sidewalk Labs says they do not sell personal information to third parties or use it for advertising purposes. Google also said it is committed not to disclose personal information to third parties, including other Alphabet companies, without explicit consent. However, it's unclear what other companies will be allowed to do with the data collected by Sidewalk Labs.

In the field of urban planning, “there have been important initial advances in discussions around data governance principles,” the Sidewalk Toronto website says. “However, there is not yet a comprehensive approach taken anywhere to address these challenges and responsibly serve digital needs.” Create the conditions for innovation to flourish.”

It added, "The Sidewalk Labs project provides a unique opportunity to do just that."

Its "holistic approach to digital innovation" consists of four parts, including maintaining open digital infrastructure, secure open data standards and core digital services, in addition to responsible data use.

In the field of digital infrastructure, Sidewalk Labs proposes a vision of ubiquitous interconnection powered by a new Super-PON technology. It proposes building physical scaffolding throughout the development to serve as a kind of "urban USB port" that would allow cities to easily and cheaply deploy digital devices, such as Wi-Fi antennas or air quality sensors.

The project's technology-driven approach extends beyond digital infrastructure into areas such as mobility. For example, the project proposes a network of underground tunnels connecting buildings, allowing self-driving delivery vans to make deliveries quickly and safely throughout communities.

Original author: Stephanie Condon

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