Expansive public spaces, roads that can change in colour and use, and buildings that act as open malls are some of the design ideas Google affiliate Sidewalk Labs shared in a public meeting Tuesday evening, as part of the consultation process for its proposed “smart city” development on Toronto’s waterfront.

The five-hectare parcel of land known as Quayside, which sits at the end of Parliament Street, will be comprised of a dense collection of mid-rise buildings surrounded by a network of narrow, walkable streets that focus on pedestrian access while barring regular cars, representatives from Sidewalk Labs LLC, a unit of Google Inc. parent Alphabet Inc. explained in a media prebriefing ahead of the meeting on Tuesday.

After months of talks, Sidewalk and Waterfront Toronto, a corporation comprised of three levels of government, released a “plan development agreement” on July 31, detailing some of the company’s plans for its futuristic proposal and naming Sidewalk as the “funding and innovation partner.” Sidewalk has so far put up a US$50-million investment, some of which is being spent on a series of public consultations and planning.

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“Waterfront streets will be renamed as ‘places’ with distinct identities, to act as lively urban connections as well as traffic arteries,” Pina Mallozzi, director of design with Waterfront Toronto, said on Tuesday, adding that streets also need to function as a part of the environment. “Streets are an integral element of our public realm,” said Ms. Mallozzi, ahead of the third of four planned public roundtables on the project.

That means that many of the streets within the development will be pedestrian-only, while others only allow bicycles and, in the future, slow-moving autonomous vehicles. As The Globe and Mail reported last week, Sidewalk Labs is testing plans for a unique road surface made up of hexagon-shaped tiles that can change colour and be swapped out to add green spaces or other uses for the street.

Keep reading in The Globe and Mail

 

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