--- title: "Alphabet-Owned Company Unveils Plans for Smart City" description: "Alphabet-owned Sidewalk Labs just released its 1.3 billion dollar plans for a Smart City to be built on 190 acres in Toronto." date: "2019-06-24" modified: "2019-07-05" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/alphabet-sidewalk-labs-toronto-smart-city-plans" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "sidewalk labs" - "Smart City" - "the digest" - "Toronto" --- # Alphabet-Owned Company Unveils Plans for Smart City ![Alphabet-owned subsidiary Sidewalk Labs just released a massive 1,524 page document outlining its plans for a $1.3 billion 190 acre smart city in Toronto.]() *\Image: Sidewalk Toronto\* ## Smart City Inside a City Alphabet-owned subsidiary, Sidewalk Labs, [just released]() a massive 1,524 page document outlining its plans for a $1.3 billion 190 acre smart neighborhood in Toronto, Canada. Plans for the equally ambitious and contentious Innovative Development and Economic Acceleration (IDEA) District cover large swathes of undeveloped land near the city's lakeside. Sidewalk Labs wants to turn the area into an "affordable, inclusive community" according to an [official website]() that's focused on smart technology including "digital services that improve quality of life." While the company hasn't outlined exactly what kind of data will be collected — the wording of its plans are quite vague still — [many critics]() have raised concerns over data privacy and security in the past. The $1.3 billion includes investment in a tall timber factory, which would make timber construction materials for the first houses. It also includes "optional credit financing" to speed up the building of a light rail connection to the waterfront. As for the people moving in, some 50 percent of all housing units would be rentals, 40 percent of which would fall below-market rates. The company is promising that its plans will create some 44,000 jobs and generate billions in annual tax revenue while increasing Canada's GDP, as the [*Toronto Star* reports](). ## Facing Criticism But there are plenty of critics of Sidewalk Labs' massive plans: [some]() are calling into question what kind of data will be collected of the neighborhood's new residents, whose hands that data will into, and how it will affect their privacy. Public advocate group Waterfront Toronto called the proposal for turning 190 acres — a far cry from what was supposed to be a redevelopment of a [12-acre site]() called Quayside — "premature," calling for Sidewalk Labs to start with the 12-acre plot and have "goals and objectives achieved" there first in a [public letter](). Critics also raised concerns over the lack of public transit to the site — and to Waterfront Toronto that's a requirement "prior to development." **READ MORE:** [Sidewalk Labs vows its 190-acre waterfront plan will be ‘economic windfall’ for Toronto]() \[*Toronto Star*\] **More on Sidewalk Labs:** [Alphabet Will Start Toronto Smart City Project This Summer. Residents Still Have Questions.]() ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()