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Alphabet’s Sidewalk Labs strikes deal to turn 800 acres of Toronto into an ‘internet city’

Google spinoff will bring Wi-Fi hubs and other smart city innovations to the shores of Lake Ontario

by Andrew J. Hawkins@andyjayhawk Oct 17, 2017, 2:46pm EDT
https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/17/16488942/alphabet-sidewalk-labs-toronto-quayside

Sidewalk Labs, the smart city subsidiary of Alphabet with the stated goal of “reimagining cities from the Internet up,” now has a very big sandbox in which to conduct its high-tech experiments. The Google spinoff announced a deal with the city of Toronto to develop 800 acres of waterfront property into its own digital utopia.

Waterfront Toronto, a city agency tasked with overseeing the development along the shore of Lake Ontario, is teaming up with Sidewalk Labs to create a new venture called Sidewalk Toronto. On Tuesday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joined top executives from Alphabet, including executive chairman Eric Schmidt, to announce the deal, which includes a $50 million commitment from Sidewalk Labs for the installation and testing of the company’s smart city technology. The cost of the project, currently dubbed Quayside, is likely to run over $1 billion, according to an earlier report by The Wall Street Journal.

“CREATING A NEW TYPE OF NEIGHBOURHOOD THAT PUTS PEOPLE FIRST”
“Today's announcement is about creating a new type of neighbourhood that puts people first,” Trudeau said in a statement. “Sidewalk Toronto will transform Quayside into a thriving hub for innovation and a community for tens of thousands of people to live, work, and play.”
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https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/17/16488942/alphabet-sidewalk-labs-toronto-quayside