Alphabet suspends plans for smart city district in Toronto
Alphabet subsidiary Sidewalk Labs is not going to set up a smart-city district in Toronto after all. Due to the coronavirus and the subsequent economic uncertainty, it has become too difficult to make the project financially viable.
Under previous plans, Sidewalk Labs, in conjunction with the Toronto City Council, should have redesigned the Quayside neighborhood. Self-driving shuttle buses would be driving around in the area, modular buildings would be erected and energy had to be generated sustainably. There would also be an innovation institute, where students and entrepreneurs would solve problems that cities have to deal with. Ultimately, Google’s Canadian headquarters should have moved to the area.
More than 2.5 years after that announcement, Sidewalk Labs has now announced that it will stop the project. The Toronto real estate market has become so financially insecure that the viability of the project has been compromised. According to Sidewalk Labs, the project could not have gone ahead without dropping “core parts” of the project.
The Alphabet subsidiary will continue to work on the ideas of such a smart city. According to Sidewalk Labs, there are still many steps to be taken, especially in the area of affordability and sustainability. Sidewalk Labs points to, among other things, the Replica tool, with which planning agencies can use anonymous location data to see and understand how and why people travel. With the software, planning agencies can organize cities better, according to Sidewalk Labs.
Another example is Ori Living, a Sidewalk Labs startup that makes robotic furniture. The company focuses on the efficient use of the living space, for example by hiding a bed in the ceiling during the day to make room for a sofa and coffee table. It is not clear what will happen to the Quayside district now.
The area in Toronto where Alphabet would start working