Google city sparks fresh controversy

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Sidewalk Labs

Sidewalk Labs, a sister company of Google, has published its plans to build a smart city in Toronto, sparking fresh controversy.

In a 1,500-word document, the company laid out its ambitions to “improve the urban environment” with a variety of high-tech innovations.

Toronto Waterfront, the body that will decide if the bid is successful, has questioned the proposals.

Meanwhile, some citizens want the plans to be scrapped entirely.

‘Lab rats’

The partnership between Sidewalk Labs and Toronto Waterfront was announced in 2017 and the plans to revitalise a disused part of the city was intended to be a model for future urban development.

But citizens expressed concerns about becoming “lab rats” and questioned Sidewalk Labs’s motivations in building a city “from the internet up”.

A group called simply Block Sidewalk held meetings to express growing concern about having a huge technology company making decisions about city…