In June of this year, Sidewalk Labs released its draft Master Innovation and Development Plan (MIDP) for Toronto's eastern waterfront. I wrote about it here. It was a draft document that was subject to further discussion and refinement, with October 31, 2019 being an important deadline for a lot of that to happen.
Some of the critical issues included project scope (just Quayside?), the possibility of a Waterfront LRT (needs to happen), data governance (who owns and manages the data that will be generated by this new smart city?) and, of course, land value. How much is Quayside worth?
A number of these key issues have now been "realigned," including the land value piece. Waterfront Toronto and Sidewalks Labs have agreed on a fair market value of $590 million (before accounting for any investments that will be required in order to achieve Waterfront Toronto's goals).
For a summary of the critical issues and what has been agreed to, click here. With these items now firmed up,
In June of this year, Sidewalk Labs released its draft Master Innovation and Development Plan (MIDP) for Toronto's eastern waterfront. I wrote about it here. It was a draft document that was subject to further discussion and refinement, with October 31, 2019 being an important deadline for a lot of that to happen.
Some of the critical issues included project scope (just Quayside?), the possibility of a Waterfront LRT (needs to happen), data governance (who owns and manages the data that will be generated by this new smart city?) and, of course, land value. How much is Quayside worth?
A number of these key issues have now been "realigned," including the land value piece. Waterfront Toronto and Sidewalks Labs have agreed on a fair market value of $590 million (before accounting for any investments that will be required in order to achieve Waterfront Toronto's goals).
For a summary of the critical issues and what has been agreed to, click here. With these items now firmed up,
Waterfront Toronto's board voted unanimously
to proceed to the next phase. The next critical date is March 31, 2020, which is when the project will seek final approval. Mark your calendars.
As part of this year's DESIGNART festival in Tokyo, Google Hardware's Design Studio (led by Ivy Ross) partnered up with Li Edelkoort to create an exhibition that placed Google's latest hardware products alongside contemporary design objects. Objects that you might find around a home, such as ceramics and furniture. The exhibit is/was called COMMA (it closes this weekend).
Here is a photo from the exhibition (there's a Google Pixel 4 XL in this arrangement):
The CEO of Foursquare -- Jeff Glueck -- published an interesting op-ed in the New York Times today, calling on Congress to regulate the location data industry. Currently, there are no formal rules in place.
In case you're not aware, Foursquare is one of the largest independent companies operating in this space. I have written about them many times before on the blog.
Here's an excerpt from Jeff's op-ed explaining why this matters:
But location data can also be abused. Bounty hunters were able to buy the current location of a cellphone for $300, Vice reported, because telecom companies sold the real-time location of phones to shady companies. And apps that track location data may turn around and sell that data, revealing someone’s every movement — whether it is to a retail store, an abortion clinic or a gay bar. Bloomberg Businessweek recently reported on a company with thousands of cameras selling car locations to debt collectors and others; there is no “opt-in” involved, and it’s illegal in all states to cover your license plate.
I am writing about this today because I think it's relevant to city building. Location data is inherently spatial. It is how we exist in cities. So it shouldn't come as a surprise to any of you that this is valuable information -- hence why it is being abused.
Here we have a company advocating for more, not less, regulation. They, of course, want it to be sensible. But I still think it says things about the current location data environment. To learn about the specifics of what Jeff is proposing, click here.
Waterfront Toronto's board voted unanimously
to proceed to the next phase. The next critical date is March 31, 2020, which is when the project will seek final approval. Mark your calendars.
As part of this year's DESIGNART festival in Tokyo, Google Hardware's Design Studio (led by Ivy Ross) partnered up with Li Edelkoort to create an exhibition that placed Google's latest hardware products alongside contemporary design objects. Objects that you might find around a home, such as ceramics and furniture. The exhibit is/was called COMMA (it closes this weekend).
Here is a photo from the exhibition (there's a Google Pixel 4 XL in this arrangement):
The CEO of Foursquare -- Jeff Glueck -- published an interesting op-ed in the New York Times today, calling on Congress to regulate the location data industry. Currently, there are no formal rules in place.
In case you're not aware, Foursquare is one of the largest independent companies operating in this space. I have written about them many times before on the blog.
Here's an excerpt from Jeff's op-ed explaining why this matters:
But location data can also be abused. Bounty hunters were able to buy the current location of a cellphone for $300, Vice reported, because telecom companies sold the real-time location of phones to shady companies. And apps that track location data may turn around and sell that data, revealing someone’s every movement — whether it is to a retail store, an abortion clinic or a gay bar. Bloomberg Businessweek recently reported on a company with thousands of cameras selling car locations to debt collectors and others; there is no “opt-in” involved, and it’s illegal in all states to cover your license plate.
I am writing about this today because I think it's relevant to city building. Location data is inherently spatial. It is how we exist in cities. So it shouldn't come as a surprise to any of you that this is valuable information -- hence why it is being abused.
Here we have a company advocating for more, not less, regulation. They, of course, want it to be sensible. But I still think it says things about the current location data environment. To learn about the specifics of what Jeff is proposing, click here.
The point of the exhibition was to make you pause (hence the "comma" part) and consider the ongoing conflation of design and tech. It's about humanizing technology, but also showing you how this is now integral to the way in which Google develops products. All of this is noteworthy because, as many of you know, I am firm believer in the value of art and design.
A few years ago I wrote about a movement being championed by the Rhode Island School of Design (as well as many others) to transform STEM into STEAM. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math subjects have long been the focus of education agendas. What the STEAM movement aims to do is insert the arts and humanities into this focus.
What you are seeing above -- from one of the largest companies in the world -- is recognition that, yes, there's tremendous value in that one additional letter.
Photo: Hiroto Miura via Google
The point of the exhibition was to make you pause (hence the "comma" part) and consider the ongoing conflation of design and tech. It's about humanizing technology, but also showing you how this is now integral to the way in which Google develops products. All of this is noteworthy because, as many of you know, I am firm believer in the value of art and design.
A few years ago I wrote about a movement being championed by the Rhode Island School of Design (as well as many others) to transform STEM into STEAM. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math subjects have long been the focus of education agendas. What the STEAM movement aims to do is insert the arts and humanities into this focus.
What you are seeing above -- from one of the largest companies in the world -- is recognition that, yes, there's tremendous value in that one additional letter.
