Master Plan for Quayside 'Smart City' Released by Sidewalk Labs and Waterfront Toronto

"Sidewalk Labs and Waterfront Toronto are set Monday to publicly release Sidewalk’s proposed master plan, a massive blueprint detailing precisely how the firm intends to create a tech-driven neighbourhood on Toronto’s waterfront," reports Donovan Vincent.

"Manhattan-based Sidewalk Labs, an urban innovation firm that is a sister company of Google, wants to turn [a 12-acre parcel of land called Quayside] into a 'test bed' or 'beta site' that would feature a mixed-use development consisting primarily of thousands of new residential units, as well as retail and office spaces," explains Vincent for background on the project, and its lofty ambitions.

The "Master Innovation and Development Plan" is separated into three volumes: 1) The Plans, 2) The Urban Onnovations, and 3) The Partnership. Chapters in Volume 2 read 1) Mobility, 2) Public Realm, 3) Buildings and Housing, 4) Sustainability, and 5) Digital Innovation. Individual chapters are split into separate, large downloads.

The master plan, available on the Waterfront Toronto website, spent 18 months in development, but now the process shifts to what is expected to be a lengthy period of public engagement and official review by city staff. As noted by Vincent, the project has already proven "enormously controversial."