In a latest article published in Engadget, by Nick Summers, a smart city project that is under development in Toronto Canada is presented. According the author the project started with an email sent by Eric Schmidt, Google’s former executive chairman, to Dan Doctoroff, of SideWalks, in 2014, having as subject line “The City of the Future”.
Waterfront Toronto project, eventualy was launched in March 2017. As is stated in the article the City of Toronto, with support from the Canadian government, was looking for a partner to rebuild and revitalize roughly 750 acres of land along the Eastern Waterfront. The first phase, or pilot, would be Quayside, a 12-acre site close to the central business district. Several local and international firms submitted proposals, including Sidewalk Labs. On October 17th, 2017, the Alphabet-owned offshoot announced that it had won the bid and given the project a new name: Sidewalk Toronto.
Sidewalk Labs proposal, is envisioning Quayside as a series of layers. At the bottom is a network of tunnels, or utility channels, which serves as the city’s near-invisible infrastructure. Above is the public realm, or street level, which serves as a foundation for its mobility and building concepts. At the highest level is the digital layer, which combines a network of sensors, a detailed map of the neighborhood, simulation software and a platform where citizens can log in and manage their public and private data.
The full article can be read here
The 200 pages proposal can be downloaded from this link Sidewalk Labs Vision Sections of RFP Submission