Google ends plans for smart city in Toronto • Hacker News Board

Re: Google ends plans for smart city in Toronto

#381

Post by skizziepop » Sun, May 10, 2020, 3:37 PM UTC

systemvoltage wrote: post #380

ccktlmazeltov wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see how, I would say most of the decisions that were made in the US are. Cities in the US are not "vibrant" compared to Europe. I think cars are mostly to blame, roads are so large, no pedestrian-only streets, parkings take so much space, etc.

I actually prefer the vastness of space in the US. Just go out in the American country side and there is so much beauty. I would love to see a world where the idea of a city is obsolete, distributed local communities of 2000 people spread across the span of American wilderness. Basic services such as electricity, sewage and internet are all maintained by standards set by the state authorities, but run by locals. It a…

You've invented small towns. What prevents you from moving to one post-pandemic?

Re: Google ends plans for smart city in Toronto

#382

Post by cal5k » Mon, May 11, 2020, 10:29 PM UTC

AlanYx wrote: post #195

cal5k wrote: post #71

Earlier 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.

There's probably a lot more merit to your comment than most people realize. Absent from most of the media reports I've read today is that Sidewalk Labs was facing yet another approval decision on the project from Waterfront Toronto in less than two weeks (May 20, extended from an earlier March 31 deadline). My guess is that they heard through the grapevine that the decision was going to be highly conditional, and tha…

Indeed. Everyone is spouting populist talking points (yeah! screw foreign money!) without explaining how Canada is going to fix its anemic productivity growth and compete globally, particularly as we're actively destroying our own resource industries.

Re: Google ends plans for smart city in Toronto

#383

Post by ccktlmazeltov » Tue, May 12, 2020, 12:20 AM UTC

systemvoltage wrote: post #380

ccktlmazeltov wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see how, I would say most of the decisions that were made in the US are. Cities in the US are not "vibrant" compared to Europe. I think cars are mostly to blame, roads are so large, no pedestrian-only streets, parkings take so much space, etc.

I actually prefer the vastness of space in the US. Just go out in the American country side and there is so much beauty. I would love to see a world where the idea of a city is obsolete, distributed local communities of 2000 people spread across the span of American wilderness. Basic services such as electricity, sewage and internet are all maintained by standards set by the state authorities, but run by locals. It a…

> Just go out in the American country side and there is so much beauty

did you think the rest of the world didn't have that?

> Europe has no such luxury due to the density of people cramped in tight corridors and old (but beautiful) architecture. There it makes sense to have a well organized city life.

Come visit the countryside in Europe.

Bonus: if you don't want to live in the city (due to work) you can work outside of it and use public transport!