> Sidewalk Labs, a sister company to Google, had acquired disused land in Toronto, Canada for this bold urban experiment "Disused land" is a bit disingenuous. Toronto real estate prices are very high right now and this is waterfront property. It's former industrial land we're hoping to revitalize. As far as I can tell, Google isn't doing us a favor here. They're just another developer trying to make a bunch of money…
A study was done and they determined the main reason Nimbys are Nimbys is because they don't like the idea of developers making money by building things near them:
Needless to say, Sidewalk Labs has not angered "Toronto", it has angered activists who don't live in the neighborhood and never will but apparently have veto power over what goes on there.
It looks like every (mostly useless) waterfront, science city or business park I have ever been to. Is there something new here, or is it like with many things these days that people's perception have diverged from reality?
the most innovative thing i've seen talked about is an a hidden utility corridor running to all the buildings for trash pickup. Which can't actually be an original idea, can it?
People are very superstitious, and quite hysterical. Google isn't building a city, they're building a neighbourhood in one small section of Toronto that most Torontonians never went to anyhow, and are under no obligation to go to after it has been rebuilt. Postwar Urban development is fucking monotonous and largely the same everywhere. We should experiment and try different things. If you don't like it, fine. Get tog…
It's the public waterfront and one of the busiest recreation trails in the city pass through it, so actually it really does matter.
Google, rather Sidewalk labs, screwed up royally, but what they learned is invaluable. No idea if this particular project can be salvaged, but anyone wanting to build a smart city should study the lessons.
Needless to say, Sidewalk Labs has not angered "Toronto", it has angered activists who don't live in the neighborhood and never will but apparently have veto power over what goes on there.
I do live here, not an activist, and Sidewalk lab can take a long walk off my short pier. They have a lot of work to do to repair/rebuild their reputation.
People are very superstitious, and quite hysterical. Google isn't building a city, they're building a neighbourhood in one small section of Toronto that most Torontonians never went to anyhow, and are under no obligation to go to after it has been rebuilt. Postwar Urban development is fucking monotonous and largely the same everywhere. We should experiment and try different things. If you don't like it, fine. Get tog…
It's the public waterfront and one of the busiest recreation trails in the city pass through it, so actually it really does matter. Google, rather Sidewalk labs, screwed up royally, but what they learned is invaluable. No idea if this particular project can be salvaged, but anyone wanting to build a smart city should study the lessons.
Will you no longer be able to pass through it recreationally after Google builds there?
I was out this morning in Edmonton riding my bike through the urban blight and stopping to climb at my favorite buildering spots, on retaining walls and bridge abutments, sound barricades and shuttered buildings where no one will bother me, but I would much prefer it if that whole section of my city was actually a functional, aestheticly appealing and economically productive neighbourhood.
People are very superstitious, and quite hysterical. Google isn't building a city, they're building a neighbourhood in one small section of Toronto that most Torontonians never went to anyhow, and are under no obligation to go to after it has been rebuilt. Postwar Urban development is fucking monotonous and largely the same everywhere. We should experiment and try different things. If you don't like it, fine. Get tog…
Torontonians never went there because it was an industrial wasteland. But it's being re-zoned, and Toronto waterfront is quite possibly the most desired real-estate in the entire country outside Vancouver.
>If you don't like it, fine. Get together with a few thousand like-minded people and build your own neighbourhood, the way you like it.
Ridiculous. In what modern world is this actually possible? Certainly not Canada (nor the U.S. to the best of my knowledge).
People are very superstitious, and quite hysterical. Google isn't building a city, they're building a neighbourhood in one small section of Toronto that most Torontonians never went to anyhow, and are under no obligation to go to after it has been rebuilt. Postwar Urban development is fucking monotonous and largely the same everywhere. We should experiment and try different things. If you don't like it, fine. Get tog…
Torontonians never went there because it was an industrial wasteland. But it's being re-zoned, and Toronto waterfront is quite possibly the most desired real-estate in the entire country outside Vancouver. >If you don't like it, fine. Get together with a few thousand like-minded people and build your own neighbourhood, the way you like it. Ridiculous. In what modern world is this actually possible? Certainly not Cana…
Yes, it's ridiculous and it shouldn't be. I'd love to live in a place where there are people and services, but no cars. Such a place does not (to my knowledge) exist in North America. We can't even have one place like that. It's gotta be the same shit everywhere.
> Sidewalk Labs, a sister company to Google, had acquired disused land in Toronto, Canada for this bold urban experiment "Disused land" is a bit disingenuous. Toronto real estate prices are very high right now and this is waterfront property. It's former industrial land we're hoping to revitalize. As far as I can tell, Google isn't doing us a favor here. They're just another developer trying to make a bunch of money…
" Google isn't doing us a favor here. They're just another developer trying to make a bunch of money off of our huge need for additional housing." Though I don't like the prospects of Google doing this, there are two issues with the comment: - Google is probably 'doing the city a favour'. Google has a gadgillion dollars we've handed to them, and their de-facto cost of capital (internally at least) is very cheap. The…
There are so many uninformed opinions here. The land is already being developed, it is well underway. There is substantial infrastructure, and decontamination projects ongoing for many years. Waterfront Toronto is a three level of government partnership (Federal, provincial and local) that plans the public spaces, roadways, transit and sells the land to developers to fund their activities (so yes, a lot of money). Sidewalk labs partnered with them to integrate smart city ideas, etc. The complexities of the situation are due to the fact that Sidewalk labs is really just the front end of many different companies that would provide the technology to make it happen.
> solve the inherent problems with surveillance Which problems?
A simple search can summarize better than I can. There are many sources, including papers and books, for this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surveillance_issues_in_smart_c...
Oh, I misunderstood. I thought there were problems to be solved in surveillance, not with surveillance. I didn't know that wasn't considered the main drive behind smart cities by everybody.