Why Google’s smart city is facing a backlash from Toronto residents

Plans to build neighbourhood of the future
raise concerns over data use

In Depth

Sidewalk Labs, owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet,
has released a 1,500-page document outlining the redevelopment of
three sites in the Canadian city to include “smart” features such
as “snow-melting roadways” and “an underground delivery system”,
Forbes reports. 

The proposal involves the construction of two
neighbourhoods, Quayside and Villiers West, along with a larger
Innovative Development and Economic Acceleration (IDEA) district.
The company claims there will be 1,700 affordable new homes in
total. 

While the redevelopment could make Toronto one of the most
advanced cities in the world, Waterfront Toronto, the organisation
managing the city’s renovation, claims that Sidewalk Labs’ vision
of a connected city differs from its own on a several levels, the
BBC reports. 

Toronto’s residents, meanwhile, have also expressed
concerns about their data being gathered and stored by the tech
company to streamline the city’s operations. 

What makes a city ‘smart’?

According to TechRepublic, a smart city employs
technology, such as connected sensors, to “derive data and improve
the lives of citizens and visitors”.

Smart technology includes dedicated mobile apps for
citizens to monitor traffic or communicate with representatives of
the city, which makes connected cities “more sustainable and
efficient”, the website says. 

Among the handful of smart cities already operating in the
world are Singapore, Dubai and even Milton Keynes.

So what are Sidewalk Labs’ plans for a ‘smart’
Toronto?

The C$3.9bn development project will use connected technology
and data loggers to create a futuristic living space where traffic
is streamlined and commutes are made shorter for Toronto’s
residents, CNN reports. 

Buildings constructed using environmentally-friendly
materials will also mean that pollution will be kept to a minimum,
the broadcaster says.

Sidewalk Labs claims that the redevelopment will generate
C$4.3bn in annual tax revenues and C$14.2bn per year in gross
domestic product, The Guardian reports. 

The company, meanwhile, will use housing sales and rent,
plus the “deployment of its technology”, as its key revenue
streams, the newspaper adds.

More jobs will be opened up, too, as it’s estimated that 93,000
positions will be created by 2040, the Financial Times reports. 

What’s been the response?

In an open letter, Stephen Diamond, head of
Waterfront Toronto, said it was “important to know” that the
organisation did not “co-create” the project with Sidewalk Labs and
emphasised that the two bodies “have very different perspectives”
on certain aspects of the city’s redevelopment. 

While admitting the project has a “number of exciting
ideas”, Diamond raises concerns with the size of the redevelopment,
which exceeds Waterfront Toronto’s initial 12-acre limit, as well
as the reliance on collecting data from the city’s
citizens.

Some Toronto’s residents have set up a campaign called
Block Sidewalk, which highlights their concerns over a tech company
“making decisions about city life”, the BBC
reports. 

Charlie Angus, a member of the Canadian parliament, told CNN: “Is this the exciting city of the future
or an urban company town run by a data giant? I think it’s the
latter.

“We are talking about wiring up urban spaces with a
company whose business model is spying on everything we do,” he
said. 

However, Sidewalk Labs CEO Dan Doctoroff said that smart
city technology was needed to solve “enormous” challenges facing
urban planners. “We think you can actually produce a dramatic
impact in urban life, that this can be a global hub for the urban
innovation industry.”