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Toronto To Be Home To Google Parent's Biggest Smart City Project Yet (techcrunch.com)
Sidewalk Labs, the smart city subsidiary of Alphabet (the parent company of Google) with the stated goal of "reimagining cities from the Internet up," now has a very big sandbox in which to conduct its high-tech experiments. From a report: That's obviously an ambitious project, but some of the groundwork is already being laid: Alphabet's Google will be the flagship tenant for the new neighbourhood, anchoring the easter waterfront, to be called "Quayside," and Sidewalk Labs has committed $50 million to kick off pilot testing and planning in partnership with the City of Toronto. Sidewalk Labs won the contract through its response to a Request for Proposals issues by Waterfront Toronto, and organization created by the Canadian federal government, the Ontario provincial government and the City of Toronto together to foster development of Toronto's lakefront areas in ways that address urban sprawl while respecting the realities of climate change and taking into account the ability of the city's residents to get around efficiently. The area involved in the RFP that Sidewalk Labs will work with the government coalition to develop spans around 800 acres (though 12 acres are specified for the initial project), and is one of the largest underdeveloped urban areas in any North American city, making it a good target for Sidewalk's ambitious vision, which involves building smart cities holistically from the very start. Ultimately, the partners hope to turn the area into a "place for tens of thousands of people to live, work, learn and play -- and to create and advance new ideas that improve city life," according to a release from Sidewalk.
I've just looked at satellite images of what I think is the land in question. It appears to be used for industrial purposes now and in the past.
How dirty is this land? Will remediation really be able to properly clean up what might be decades of industrial waste and chemicals and other contaminants that have gotten into the soils?
Something else Google can drop into place and then abandon...
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Expect a massive car crash of hacked self driving cars cars and ransomware power cuts.
so the san francisco of canada?
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
Toronto is well known for these planned communities that end up becoming total disasters. Regent Park is a 1940s/1950s-era attempt at a planned community that failed. St. James Town is a 1960s-era attempt at a planned community that failed. Crescent Town is a 1970s-era attempt at a planned community that failed. Don Valley Village is yet another 1960s/1970s-era attempt at a planned community that failed. Those areas became well-known as hotbeds of crime and poverty. Why should anyone expect this "building smart cities holistically from the very start" initiative to fare any better?
Please forgive my ignorance but what exactly is a 'smart city' ?
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Is this just more places to live for rich people, and the middle class and poor can just bugger off? If so then GTFO, Google.
In the words of Mark Twain: a summer in San Francisco is colder than a winter in Toronto.
I'd love to see them put in moving sidewalk lanes that could move fairly quickly. Maybe an outside lane that folks entered and exited on, a mid speed lane and a fast lane that went from point to point. Sure buses and trains do this, but this would be more fun.
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"Speed Kills" - T.J. Benzueka
Somewhat ironic choice of city; Ubisoft Toronto was the developer for Watch Dogs 2, a pretty fun game which explores the implications of ubiquitous "smart city" tech under the ownership of monolithic organizations.
Seriously. It's like it was written in Russian and then put through Google translate.
...address urban sprawl while respecting the realities of climate change and taking into account the ability of the city's residents to get around efficiently.
So, pack everyone into the city, and bus them everywhere, driving up housing costs and the cost of living in general.
Google just recently cut back on the roll out of Google Fiber in the Austin area. Wonder if you can trust them to finish what they start.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
Smart cities always reminds me of the AI city control in Alpha Centauri. The cutscene with "We must dissent" echoing through the shadows still resonates.
Was a great way to control your population though.
like the rest of Toronto. Developers with deep pockets will never let it happen, cheap tall condos is their mandate.
I'm sure Tory will spin this somehow as not a giveaway to 26 and tridel but it won't be true, will 26 have to pay the foreign investment tax, I don't know but I doubt it
A city that serves as a sandbox for Google? Sounds like a great place not to go.
Can somebody please mod down the parent comment by DerekLyons? The parent commenter has probably never even been to Toronto, and is totally wrong and totally ignorant about this matter.
The developments that the GP listed are in fact planned communities. They aren't just "housing projects" or "apartment complexes" like the parent is wrongly thinking. If you have ever visited any of them you'd know this to be true.
The developments that the GP listed are a planned mix of residential, commercial, institutional and recreational developments. It doesn't matter that some of them used highrise apartments for the residential component, or that some of these accommodations were treated as community housing. They're still planned communities in every sense of the word, as they did not develop organically over time, and were instead built with very specific intent during a very short period of time.
I don't think that the parent commenter even looked at the Wikipedia article he linked to! The relevant section about Canada even refers to the CityPlace development in Toronto. This modern development is very much like the St James Town or Crescent Town developments that the GP referred to. It too is a mix of highrise residential towers with commercial space on the lower levels, with institutional developments and parks between the towers. Being much newer than the planned communities that the GP listed it just hasn't yet succumbed to the problems that now plague the older developments.
The shitty parent comment should be modded down. It's completely wrong.
They just wish they were Apple. Fuck them too.
“Together, our goal is build a complete urban community where there are good opportunities for everyone to work hard a place where innovation of every variety can flourish.” -- Kathleen Wynne, Ontario Premier
I read this as "a great place to WORK HARD" (i.e be a slave to Google)... "innovation of every variety" .. (i.e. every manner of control and invasion in your life).
“You guys are the home for immigrants – excellent,” Schmidt said. “Try to remember that technology is powered by immigrants. I need to tell some people in America, so please continue.” -- Eric Schmidt, Alphabet CEO
This one is confusing to me... technology is powered by immigrants? WTF? Because noone domestic does.. technology?? Only foreigners can do this! What the fuck is this guy's actual agenda here? Slavery for all no doubt...
And finally .. "dont be evil" -- GOOGLE MOTTO... Gods only come in two types.. GOOD .. and EVIL... the fact that Google has to declare they wont be evil, to me, it says they think they are gods ... and odds are, if they have to remind themselves to not be evil, their NATURAL TENDENCY .. is to be evil... and they have the power to do great evil... maaaan FUCK google...