Smart Cities

6 Alphabet Is Here to “Fix” Toronto: Algorithmic Governance in Sidewalk Labs’ Smart City

DOI: 10.1201/9781003272199-9

Anna Artyushina

Contents

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Methodology

6.3 The New Social Ordering

6.4 Algorithmic Governance as Private Governance

6.5 Sidewalk Toronto: The City Planned and Governed by Algorithms

6.6 The City as an Asset

6.7 Conclusion

Notes

References

6.1 Introduction

In October 2017, Alphabet and the Government of Canada announced that the city of Toronto had been chosen as the site for Alphabet’s first smart city. The press release envisioned Sidewalk Toronto/Quayside¹ as an exemplary community that would employ digital technology to tackle the issues of urban growth:

Sidewalk Labs and Waterfront Toronto announced ...