Quayside, the “neighborhood of the future,” is coming to Toronto. Sidewalk Labs, a subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet, gained approval for the high-tech 'hood this week.
Sidewalk Labs pledged $10 million for Quayside's planning, and an additional $40 million investment with the deal's approval. Fortune reports that the Quayside is projected to cost $1 billion overall, and will include modular buildings that are able to be repurposed as the community develops, and self-driving cars. Approval for the project came from public group Waterfront Toronto, a unanimous decision other than one resignation in protest. “We are excited to take this next step with Sidewalk Labs to set the stage for a transformational project that addresses many critical urban issues faced by Toronto and other cities around the world,” the group said.
“I like the fact that Sidewalk is bringing a different approach that includes both planning and process, and community and technology together, rethinking how we build cities in the twenty-first century,” said Will Fleissig, CEO of Waterfront Toronto, in a promotional video. Quayside is just the start to a larger project known as Sidewalk Toronto. According to Sidewalk Labs, the final product “will combine forward-thinking urban design and new digital technology to create people-centred neighbourhoods that achieve precedent-setting levels of sustainability, affordability, mobility, and economic opportunity.”