Isn't it ironic to blame the coronavirus? I imagine an alternate timeline in which it's a success story for the already-built 'smart city', with the masses of data it offers aiding crisis management in .
Google ends plans for smart city in Toronto
241–250 of 383 posts
Re: Google ends plans for smart city in Toronto
#242Google 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…
We tried to sell to Planning Department of SF. They literally told us: we are not going to buy anything that shows our weaknesses.
Re: Google ends plans for smart city in Toronto
#243'Smart' is a marketing term that means 'useless BS'.
It ends up being the case most of the time but of course it could be better.
Re: Google ends plans for smart city in Toronto
#244The promised green-space would have been awesome. In all, I'm thrilled that Toronto won't be the first guinea pig testing out a privacy-flexible smart city. If it works well in other places and everyone's happy, we can get the new improved one with the quirks fixed.
Re: Google ends plans for smart city in Toronto
#245I know there's gonna be a lot of people here that are happy about this for various reasons (anti-Google, anti-"smart cities", etc), but this is really disappointing for me. It's true that the concept of "cities" (or even just "gatherings of people") predates the Internet by thousands of years, and that cities themselves haven't adapted much to the Internet and what it enables in the 40ish years it's been around. This…
> got shut down by the locals That's not what happened though. Google was free to continue the project but decided not too, using Covid-19 as a fig leaf. I agree with the thrust of your comment (we need more experimentation with cities, not less) but this is Google doing what Google does: changing it's mind and abandoning projects.
Hard to say that wasn't a factor in shutting it down. After several missed deadlines, major controversies around trust and privacy, scope creep such as attempts by Sidewalk Labs to alter to the project scope, for example, redevelopment of 350 acres in the Port Lands area which was nearly 30 times the original proposal, withdrawal of key advisors, and proposals that were simply political explosive, etc. It seemed almost inevitable that the project was destined to fail or largely be a shadow it's lofty original goals.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/15/alphabets-sidewalk-labs-want...
https://betakit.com/ann-cavoukian-still-has-problems-with-si...
https://betakit.com/sidewalk-labs-announces-it-will-no-longe...
Re: Google ends plans for smart city in Toronto
#246I know there's gonna be a lot of people here that are happy about this for various reasons (anti-Google, anti-"smart cities", etc), but this is really disappointing for me. It's true that the concept of "cities" (or even just "gatherings of people") predates the Internet by thousands of years, and that cities themselves haven't adapted much to the Internet and what it enables in the 40ish years it's been around. This…
I don't think a "smart city" is our answer; I think actually looking to the past is a better plan for a good city, such as what Strong Towns advocates. https://www.strongtowns.org/
(I have no affiliation with the organization)
Re: Google ends plans for smart city in Toronto
#247I know there's gonna be a lot of people here that are happy about this for various reasons (anti-Google, anti-"smart cities", etc), but this is really disappointing for me. It's true that the concept of "cities" (or even just "gatherings of people") predates the Internet by thousands of years, and that cities themselves haven't adapted much to the Internet and what it enables in the 40ish years it's been around. This…
That land was up for grabs since Toronto's bid for 2008 Olympics. The only serious project that materialized was Sidewalks one. Kind of sad.
Re: Google ends plans for smart city in Toronto
#248Google 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 compu…
I suggest giving up on computers and "solve" everything with emotions, narratives, and dynamic morality. Who is with me?
Re: Google ends plans for smart city in Toronto
#249Earlier quoted context omitted.
> which org does exist purely to make the world a better place? I think the idea that one organization existing to make the entire world a better place is utopian, but governments are much better equipped to bring positive change than private companies are because citizens are the direct beneficiaries of government resources. For example, a municipal government’s purpose is to administer public services, and a munici…
I could not disagree with you more. Are you in the Bay Area? The Bay Area avoided a calamity primarily because of private companies taking action long before the city and state. I'd counter that if private companies were completely left in charge, the response may have been better (I would not have said this in January). Private companies were called in because our public efforts failed. If private companies were lea…
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Re: Google ends plans for smart city in Toronto
#250Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Most people who live in my city are renters, but most voters in local elections are homeowners Sounds like renters should start voting. Why would city council members do anything for the interests of people that don't vote? Not only is it against their own self-interest, it's anti-democratic. Elected representatives have to do what their voters want - it's the bedrock of democracy. That reps are profiting off the s…
I rent, I vote. Plenty of people do vote. But, a typical homeowner in LA is more well off and therefore has more free time to wait in line to vote, so that is who is most likely to vote. There are people here who need to work 60-80 hour weeks to survive.
We have very easy mail in voting in LA.