The waterFRONT of Toronto.
Quayside could have been a proof of concept if it had succeeded. The smart city model adopted in China and the Persian Gulf has a place in more democratic societies. The case for why anyone would want to live in a neighborhood that was built from the internet up was not made.
The economic uncertainty brought on by the covid-19 pandemic caused Sidewalk to pull the plug. The $900 million vision for a data-rich city came at the end of years of controversy.
It is not uncommon for citizens to get up in arms about new development and utopias failing. The opposition to Sidewalk's vision for Toronto wasn't about things like architectural preservation or the height, density, and style of the proposed buildings A lack of seriousness about the privacy concerns of Torontonians was the main cause of the project's demise.
In Canada there is less tolerance for private-sector control of public streets and transportation than there is in the US.
The shift signaled by the new plan, with its emphasis on wind and rain and birds and bees rather than data, seems like a pragmatic response to the present moment.
Alex Ryan is a senior vice president of partnership solutions for the MaRS Discovery District, a Toronto nonprofit founded by a consortium of public and private funders. There is good government in Canada. Canadians don't think the private sector will save us from government because we have high trust in government.
Sidewalk didn't understand Toronto's civic culture. The company's attitude was described by almost every person I spoke with as "Hubris" or "arrogance" People used both.
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