Toronto’s new development for an Innovative District

This area will get a new face lift, which will feature the greenest and smartest district Toronto has ever seen.

Sidewalk Lab, part of Google’s parent company Alphabet, will oversee the planning of the construction of the district on Quayside; Toronto’s eastern waterfront and the most underdeveloped urban area in north America. The name of the project is Sidewalk Toronto. It is still in the early stages of planning and testing, which means there is no definite date for when construction will begin.

Former New York City Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff, is Sidewalk Lab’s chief executive believes that the project will make Toronto an example of future cities.  “We believe Sidewalk Toronto can demonstrate to the world how to make living in cities cheaper, more convenient, healthier, greener, fairer, and even maybe more exciting,” stated Doctoroff.

The project Sidewalk Toronto hopes to bring in more jobs, opportunities, and housing for the residents in Toronto rather than having people commute outside for work. It will help solve problems normally associated with large urban areas such as energy use, housing affordability and overcrowding. Also, it will put Toronto at the forefront of urban innovation.

The project has been warmly welcomed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “This will create a test bed for new technologies in Quayside,” stated Trudeau. “Technologies that will help us build smarter, greener, more inclusive cities – which we hope to see scale across Toronto’s eastern waterfront and eventually in other parts of Canada and around the world.”

Within this planned neighbourhood, it will provide all residents with access to Wi-Fi and will connect with other neighbourhoods within the district. It will also use digital navigation tools by making all modes of transportation such as cars, bikes, and trains, more safe and efficient. The goal of the project is to make the residents more connected to the digital network within the neighbourhood.

Not only will the district feature connection like never before, it will also aim to be efficient and eco-friendly. In addition, it aims to construct an infrastructure that would reduce landfill waste. Along with the greener technology offered by the project, it will also include a wide range of public spaces that are open all year round, with easier access to parks, beaches and the waterfront in Toronto.

Sidewalk Lab and Waterfront Toronto both hope that this project will attract major companies, promoting Toronto as a tech hub. Google has plans to move their Canadian headquarters in this district once construction is complete, sorry Waterloo!

Sidewalk Lab has contributed 50 million USD to the investment for the initial phase of the project. The federal, provincial, and municipal governments have invested a total of 1.25 billion CAD to protect the area from flooding.

For now, Sidewalk Toronto is still in the early stages of planning and testing. However, it is known that this project will bring in thousands of jobs during the planning and the construction in the future.