Google sister company Sidewalk Labs' Quayside development seeks to make Toronto a smart "neighborhood of the future." Yet, privacy and security concerns are becoming more apparent.
In a recent presentation, Sidewalk Labs reps showcased renderings of composite timber structures meant to have a lower environmental impact and offer visual warmth, modular buildings, a zero-emissions microgrid, and more. However, the company did not go into great detail regarding the "data-gathering infrastructure more or less built into the walls," of Quayside, Laura Bliss writes for CityLab. This is a red flag in the eyes of critics, who remind that Sidewalk Labs' original, one-year consultation agreement with the City of Toronto has almost elapsed, while the company has offered little intel as to how the gathered data would be owned, used, and paid for.
On a Tuesday night in August, Jesse Shapins, the director of public realm and culture at Sidewalk Labs, flipped through a set of colorful slides before a public audience in downtown Toronto. On view were design ideas for Quayside, the 12-acre mixed-use neighborhood that Alphabet’s city-building subsidiary has planned for the city’s waterfront. “How might we create a people-first city in the digital age?” asked Shapins, who wore a heavy beard and round red spectacles.
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