Google's sister company Sidewalk to build a smart city in Canada
Google's sister company Sidewalk Labs has revealed a massive plan for investing about $990 million to build a waterfront area in Toronto, Canada into a high-tech smart city.
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Sidewalk Labs CEO Dan Doctoroff said the company is releasing the draft Master Innovation and Development Plan for Toronto's eastern waterfront, titled "Toronto Tomorrow: A New Approach for Inclusive Growth" after 18 months of preparations.
He said the project will be a joint collaboration between government agencies at various levels, non-profit partners and more than 100 Toronto firms, Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday.
Under the plan of the Alphabet-owned company, a slice of the Toronto-based Quayside waterfront area will be turned into a high-tech smart city featuring buildings made from timbers, green energy, low emissions of greenhouse gas, a modular pavement system that is easy to repurpose for future temporary events, and installation of public WiFi service.
Doctoroff said when the project of a smart city within a city, a vision long championed by Alphabet CEO Larry Page, is completed by 2040, it will directly create 44,000 jobs and generate $3.26 billion in annual tax revenue, plus an annual gross domestic product of $10.78 billion.
He called the master plan one that would produce the most innovative district in the world, which would reflect nearly every dimension of urban life, from mobility, sustainability, public realm and buildings to digital innovation.
The utopia-style area in Toronto's eastern waterfront would set a new standard for urban life in the 21st century, he said.
Alphabet Inc. is the owner of Google and Sidewalk.
