4 years ago I co-founded a smart cities business. Basically a wysiwyg schema/api generator for non-technical municipal users. Idea being if you're procuring data generative "stuff" - municipal workers can define an integration point. In the first few months of starting the company, I met with sidewalk labs at their request. We talked about working together and I said that wouldn't be possible because we wanted to giv…
Do you still exist?!
Google ends plans for smart city in Toronto
101–110 of 383 posts
Re: Google ends plans for smart city in Toronto
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
Condos are actually not expensive, just in the USA where they are mostly luxury products. In many other countries, condos are normal (and are called apartments or something similar) and much more affordable than single family homes or town homes.
Well, in Toronto they are quite expensive, so it really doesn't help. And that is mostly by design. If Google wants to build cheap condos, then so be it, I don't think anyone will oppose them. They would have to be really cheap though, because in NA condos can generally not be rented out.
Almost everyone I know lives in a rented condo.
Re: Google ends plans for smart city in Toronto
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not even a fan of that project in particular, but this is a common problem in Canada - the goalpost constantly shifts, the process becomes a political hot potato, and the foreign investor eventually just says "fuck this" and pulls out of the market. It's happened in oil & gas, banking, telecommunications, retail, and a whole host of other sectors.
Outside of retail, all of the rest of those have real national security implications. And if by retail you're referring to burger joints or Target, I'm afraid that's just market effect.
Plus Target shot themselves in the foot with poor SAP integration among other blunders.
Re: Google ends plans for smart city in Toronto
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
For those of us that live in Toronto and have experienced Palmerston and City Place; Kensington Market and Metro groceries it's so obvious that another set of condos built by a giant corporation are not what we need. You can call me cynical all you like, I'd rather have my city move in the direction of Europe (Vilnius or Paris) than Manhattan or Tokyo. Count me as one of the many happy people that this fell through,…
What is the difference between the four cities you mention? At least three of them have been restricting density, resulting in steadily increasing prices.
I would guess skyscrapers vs. 4 stories. West/East Village in Manhattan are generally considered the most pleasant and they are skyscraper-free.
Re: Google ends plans for smart city in Toronto
#105The idea of “smart cities” seems great, and a lot of prominent people in tech/VC seem to be on board. Yet at the same time, I just don’t see a realistic way to make this happen (zoning, NIMBYism) unless we’re talking about desolate places that still have cheap real estate, but where nobody wants to live anyways e.g. Montana and the Dakotas.
History repeats itself. I'm willing to bet none of these people are aware of the failure of Epcot, the first smart city effort, when they take their families to Disneyworld. There are just too many people in this world who would prefer to say no to change.
Re: Google ends plans for smart city in Toronto
#106People are cheering, but as a broader statement this is a small sample of how difficult it is to do business in Canada.
The article says the issue is Corona not Canada?
Re: Google ends plans for smart city in Toronto
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
But... condo neighborhoods are exactly that medium density housing. Every city does need more condos in their existing neighborhoods if populations are able to grow. (Unless Covid-19 will reshape the trajectory of urbanization, and major cities will mostly shrink for the next several decades. That actually seems somewhat plausible). But writing off all the sidewalk labs ideas as gimmicky smartphone integrations is pr…
>> Every city does need more condos in their existing neighborhoods if populations are able to grow. Except that is in cities like Toronto/Vancouver more condos doesn't mean more people living in those condos. These are investment vehicles. Many of these new condo biuldings in trendy neighbourhoods sit empty, having been purchased as an investment rather than as a living space. What is needed is more rental units, no…
Just tax empty places, isn't that what Vancouver does? Leaving a place empty/inhabited should be very expensive.
Re: Google ends plans for smart city in Toronto
#108Google doesn't need to invest in the gadgets and electronics in the walls that appear to make cities smarter. That money would be better spent on enabling city governments, elected policymakers, and especially their constituents to be smarter and able to make better choices and designs about city planning, building permits, incentives, taxation, traffic, etc better. The rest will follow. What we need is for people to…
What we need is for people to understand how to choose better for themselves. Not a technology patch.
Google only has one hammer: the algorithm. It just comes in different colors.
Traffic? Waymo algorithm.
Municipal planning? Smart Cities algorithm.
Advertising? AdSense algorithm.
Journalism? Google News algorithm.
Google, and certain other tech companies, need to learn that not every problem can be solved by a computer.
Re: Google ends plans for smart city in Toronto
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
>how difficult it is to do business in Canada. Or, put differently, how difficult it is to exploit the public's privacy for financial gain in Canada? I'm Canadian, and I'm glad that Google didn't get carte blanche to come in and build their surveillance dystopia.
I'm not even a fan of that project in particular, but this is a common problem in Canada - the goalpost constantly shifts, the process becomes a political hot potato, and the foreign investor eventually just says "fuck this" and pulls out of the market. It's happened in oil & gas, banking, telecommunications, retail, and a whole host of other sectors.
We already have foreign investors taking a lease of the section hwy 407 in Toronto and wrestling ministry of transportation to not extend license plates of people who did not pay fee. The reason included not sending bills, false billings, denying plates after official bankruptcy etc. And those ever increasing tolls. Thank you very much for your business and corruption.
Re: Google ends plans for smart city in Toronto
#110People are cheering, but as a broader statement this is a small sample of how difficult it is to do business in Canada.
The article says the issue is Corona not Canada?
It's not, CNBC says "Toronto was expected to make its final decision on whether or not to let the project move forward on May 20."
COVID has nothing to do with it.