Sidewalk Labs
The Role of Tech Giants in the Smart City
April 5th, 2022Delivery Culture & The Smart Building
January 13th, 2022
Are Data Privacy Laws Good or Bad for the Smart Buildings Market?
What if there were no privacy laws for smart buildings? Would it really be good for business? Would it really be bad for occupants? Would the building be smarter? Would anyone want to live or work there? These are some of the many questions floating around the smart building sector as rapid technological development outstrips […]
From the Sidewalk of the City to the Sidewalk of the Building
The pandemic has been incredibly disruptive to the real estate sector, and perhaps the biggest cancellation of the COVID-19 era so far is Google’s Sidewalk Labs project in Toronto. The Quayside redevelopment project was still in planning phases and held back by a resolute citizen movement that focused on issues of data privacy and corporate […]
The Post-COVID Urban Agenda: Cities Should Be Smart but MUST Be Fair
Some of the most symbolic images of the past year have been of empty city centers. Deserted images Times Square, Covent Garden, Champs-Élysées, and Shibuya commercial district would have been impossible to capture before the lockdowns and stay-at-home orders that COVID-19 brought about. Our cities have felt the greatest impact of the pandemic and this […]
Everybody Wants their Space in the Booming Occupancy Analytics Market
The use of occupancy analytics has been a rising trend for buildings in recent years, driving productivity by helping enterprises balance occupant health and comfort with occupant density. As we come to terms with the return to the office being a stop-start process, applying occupancy levels in line with public health guidelines, we begin to […]
Focus Shifts to Health in our Post-COVID Smart Cities of the Future
The COVID-19 pandemic has infected many vulnerable emerging markets with reduced revenue and increased uncertainty. As recession looms, crucial investment channels are drying up, seemingly creating a divide between those projects that are already underway and those that now face an uphill battle to secure the funding they require to get off the ground. This […]
Continually Demolishing & Rebuilding Our Buildings Is Not Smart or Sustainable
The pyramids of Giza have been standing intact for over 4000-years and are not even the oldest pyramids in Egypt.The Pantheon in Rome has been in continuous use for over 2000-years, Istanbul’s intricate Santa Sophia appears pristine despite is 1483-year age, while the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Palestine, has housed worshipers for the […]
A Tale of Two Smart City Approaches: Toronto & Barcelona
“This is a tale of two cities — Toronto and Barcelona — that may hold important lessons for others around the world. Both have big ambitions to change the way they operate but reflect very different visions of how smart cities should be run,” writes John Thornhill, Innovation Editor at the Financial Times, in an […]
Google’s Sidewalk Labs is Building a Building Factory in Toronto
When Google’s sister company, Sidewalk Labs, “released” its leaked master plan for the Toronto quayside development it was met with mixed reviews. For those staunchly against increased corporate involvement in public spaces and urban planning, and for those who adore anything Google does, minds were already made up before the plans emerged. However, most people […]