Toronto Wants To Kill The Smart City Forever

The new Waterfront Toronto project in Toronto, dubbed Quayside 2.0, is tipped to be a bucolic retreat rather than a technological utopia, which may kill the smart city forever.

The city of Toronto unveiled plans for a brand-new waterfront development in February. 800 affordable apartments, a two-acre forest, a rooftop farm, a new arts center specializing in indigenous culture, and a commitment to being zero-carbon seem like a wish list for any passionate urbanist.

An accessible, off-the-grid Eden in the middle of the city sounds wonderful. But just a few years ago, a totally new urban utopia called Quayside was slated to be built on this same 12-acre site. It would be the setting where Sidewalk Labs, Alphabet's division for urban innovation, would showcase its concept of the smart city.

Quayside shouldn't have been that difficult to develop given its location between the elevated Gardiner Expressway and Lake Ontario, where it is surrounded by a few one-story commercial bu...

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