Googling the City

In Search of the Public Interest on Toronto’s ‘Smart’ Waterfront

Bibliographic Data

ID22018351
AuthorsKevin Morgan (0000-0002-2933-2231, Cardiff University), Brian Webb (0000-0001-9247-960X, Cardiff University)
Year2020
Volume5
Issue1
Pages84-95
Publication date2020-03-13
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueUrban Planning (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2183-7635 • E-ISSN: 2183-7635
PublisherCogitatio (PUBLISHER • PT)
DOI10.17645/up.v5i1.2520
OpenAlexW3010808776
LanguageEN
Citations received15
References cited40

Toronto’s Quayside waterfront regeneration project has become an international reference point for the burgeoning debate about the scope and limits of the digitally enabled ‘smart city’ narrative. The project signals the entry of a Google affiliate into the realm of ‘smart urbanism’ in the most dramatic fashion imaginable, by allowing them to potentially realise their long-running dream for “someone to give us a city and put us in charge.” This article aims to understand this on-going ‘smart city’ experiment through an exploration of the ways in which ‘techno-centric’ narratives and proposed ‘disruptive’ urban innovations are being contested by the city’s civic society. To do this, the article traces the origins and evolution of the partnership between Waterfront Toronto and Sidewalk Labs and identifies the key issues that have exercised local critics of the plan, including the public/private balance of power, governance, and the planning process. Despite more citizen-centric efforts, there remains a need for appropriate advocates to protect and promote the wider public interest to moderate the tensions that exist between techno-centric and citizen-centric dimensions of smart cities

Business · Corporate governance · General partnership · Geography · Internet of Things · Narrative · Political science · Public relations · Realm · Smart city · Sociology · Urbanism · Computer Science · Engineering · Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis · Public Administration · Smart Cities and Technologies · Smart Parking Systems Research