innovation nation: how smart cities may be too smart for their own good - the smart board

"I don't think I 've ever said anything about smart cities," said Dan doktolov, CEO of Alphabet Inc. Sidewalk Lab.
Urban innovation department.
"I really don't like the word.
"This dislike is a bit unfortunate because, whether or not Doctoroff likes it or not, he happens to be Canada's highest-ranking supervisor --
Introduction to the "Google smart city" project-
As one news story after another says --
On the Toronto waterfront.
How smart the Toronto sidewalk project will eventually be, it's still a bit vague.
This could be a technology. infused, data-
As the company used to like to say, driven, future communities.
Or, critics say it could become a corporate town that subverts the democratic will of the government and sets a bad precedent for data collection, privacy and digital surveillance.
At this point, the Toronto sidewalk is largely open, and that's why it's a perfect example of a smart city project: it's big, ambitious, technology-
Above all, it is still an idea, vision, and proposal that has not yet been realized.
Even something as simple as planning to use yourself
Driving can cause confusion.
Whether the project will close all the streets nearby and only allow autonomous vehicles, it doesn't make much sense for an area that covers only about 12 acres and can walk from one end to the other, after 10 minutes
Instead, it may plan streets and parking spaces in a way that accommodates self-help
Driving a car, it's a little less groundbreaking.
Supporters also talked about "tall timber" buildings, using wood in innovative ways to build new buildings and taking a completely different approach to public spaces in buildings.
The concept map usually uses hexagonal paving stones, allowing flexible street views to be changed according to different uses.
But Doctoroff and the rest of the sidewalk lab team agree that everything is work in progress and that all ideas can be discussed, consulted and modified until the final innovation and development plan (MIDP)is submitted —
Expected end of June
Federal waterfront hotels in Toronto-provincial-
Municipal Administration.
Even after the launch of the MIDP, years of permit approval and building plans are still waiting before any building is ready for occupancy.
And, of course, the question of money --
Billions of dollars.
Implement the plan.
Sidewalk Labs have pledged $50 million to go further in the process.
But no matter what the Toronto sidewalk project will look like in the next few years, the driving force of smart cities will not go anywhere, even if many urban residents really like to rename.
In his aversion to the word "smart city", it is not just Doctoroff alone.
Most people who work in urban technology and innovation will retreat as it has become a nasty hot term like "Internet of Things" or "blockchain ".
"The term also means that cities today are stupid, but tomorrow they will be smart, which masks the huge engineering, planning and management that has been embedded in every modern city.
Nevertheless, the prospect of smart cities has attracted the attention of the public.
According to the October Financial Post Surveymonkey poll, respondents were excited about Canada's involvement in smart city projects over the next decade.
In contrast, only 18 per cent of respondents were excited about artificial intelligence, and only 13 per cent were excited about themselves. driving cars.
The federal government was also involved, launching the Smart City Challenge in 2017 to fund cities that apply technology in new ways to improve their community lives.
The case with smart cities at its core is this: urbanization has steadily intensified over the years, making it possible for them to stagnate and collapse under their own pressure.
Evangelists say the solution is to apply innovative technology and thinking to make route traffic faster, use energy more effectively and make residents healthier and happier.
The key, of course, is the details, or, more specifically, the data.
As of the second half of 2018, Sidewalk Labs faced growing opposition from activists who wanted to know who would have data related to the Toronto program.
Privacy is the most obvious issue, but it is a tricky one for policy advocates to talk more about data governance.
All these questions are about who owns and operates the city data sensors, who has access to the data they collect, and what that data can be used.
Sensors embedded in buildings, for example, can dynamically control heating and cooling systems to improve energy efficiency, but can also track people as they move around.
If the system is operated by a private company or government, if the data is anonymous, if any --
For sale or free-
For third parties that can mine the data for other purposes, if the police are able to obtain the data, it will help their investigation in China, the authorities are using the camera and sending them instant fines via SMS
Many Canadians may think that this crosses the line from smart cities to authoritarian countries --
But the line is getting blurred.
Kurtis McBride, chief executive and co-president
Founder of Ont-Kitchener
Based on Miovision technology
These data and technical problems make the traffic flow management system in the urban environment spend a lot of time thinking.
McBride says he is still waiting for the consensus "architecture" of how smart city systems can be combined ".
Now, he said, the company wants to dominate city technology in wayAmerica Online (AOL)
Before an open system based on web browsers and pages took over, he became the King of the Internet.
"When the final architecture and agreements of smart cities emerge, the impact and possibilities will be even more profound," he said . ".
McBride said the struggle to identify future smart city standards is part of the reason why the Sidewalk Lab project is so controversial and controversial: there are concerns, this will help set a precedent for data management for countless projects in Canada in the future.
Therefore, the government should take the lead in setting data governance rules, he said.
"If we think the private sector has a responsibility to consider privacy in terms of data, it is very dangerous," McBride said . ".
"This is the opposite of democracy.
People should make rules on how to use and not use data, and then companies should follow them.
"Find a common architecture that can solve bigger problems in addition to traffic lights and public infrastructure," matthew-
Real estate consultant, president, product management and data solutions, Altes Group Co. , Ltd.
Boukall said he saw a lot of smart cities.
Type innovation is embedded in the new building, but each building at this time is essentially an island.
In the end, he predicts, the Internet will manage matters such as energy consumption.
As far as the Toronto sidewalk is concerned, an independent "citizen data Trust" will analyze and approve all urban data proposals to help ensure transparency and privacy.
Kristina frner
The president of innovation, sustainability and prosperity at the Toronto waterfront has been helping to drive the Toronto sidewalk public consultation process and ultimately oversee the final MIDP, he said, many of the privacy issues can be solved from the very beginning by anonymizing the data.
"All personally identifiable information that can be collected here needs to be deleted
"Identify and delete from a wider set of data so you don't have a situation where monitoring the city is a bit involved," she said . ".
"It should be a truly privacy-based community. ”But de-
In the rest of Toronto, data collection is not the norm.
CCTV cameras are available on subways, trams and buses, and video footage allows people to identify themselves.
In addition, the Toronto Transportation Commission and other public transport agencies in the Greater Toronto Area used the Presto card and handed over users' personal data to the police on dozens of occasions.
Doctoroff believes that Toronto sidewalks will define higher standards in terms of urban data collection.
"We want to go further than the status quo, and in terms of data collection in the public domain, the status quo is basically a Wild West," he said . ".
"With CCTV cameras all over the place and sensors all over the place, we actually believe that at the end of the day, we need a stronger data governance system.
"Teresa Scassa, chair of Information Law and Policy Research at the University of Ottawa and member of the Toronto Waterfront Digital Strategy Advisory Group, said that with the development of technology, policy makers may continue their efforts to address these policy issues for a long time.
"We are repairing.
There may be more reforms, "she said.
"It's urgent at one level, but at the same time, it's going to be an ongoing work.
"After the Sidewalk Toronto project, some critics said that the most useful thing in the process might be to trigger serious policy discussions, even if it means that the sidewalk lab will be the lightning bolt of criticism.
However, in the real development of smart cities, sidewalk laboratories may be an anomaly.
A company usually does not have a comprehensive master plan for a range of major real estate.
An ordinary smart city company may be more like Uber technology.
Start with a simple ride-
The shared app, but later expanded to a wide range of urban transport services: taxis, carpooling, electric bikes in some cities, Uber take-out and even minibus services, recently launched in Egypt.
The government is not planned.
Driven by the vision, Uber has achieved organic growth, sometimes in conflict with the government that wants to regulate the company.
Andrew Salzburg, head of global transportation policy and research at uber, uber Pool is a good example of how the company uses its data and product delivery capabilities to create a service, let people share the ride service in the same direction.
"Data is part of it, but it's also the entire platform that can handle millions of requests at the same time," he said . ".
"It's actually hard to scale up and get enough people moving in the same direction so it's possible to provide carpooling.
Uber has also launched a system called Uber, which provides aggregated anonymous data on travel time in urban centers based on millions of rides.
The movement is a bit like an olive branch, says Salzburg, indicating that the company is interesting to work with the city government rather than fighting them as it used to be.
"Fundamentally, we have built a layer of technology to move passengers, move food and services," he said . ".
"But now that we 've done that, there's a chance to go back to cities of all sizes and say to the government, 'Hey, what have people been working on for a long time, technology can help resolve the 'Sidewalk Lab is entirely likely to get into controversy, precisely because it takes a more thoughtful approach to applying for permission to build a smart city, however, uber broke into the city and disrupted traffic afterwards, asking for forgiveness.
But with the development of technology, organic, partialby-
City innovation-
Companies, services and tools like Uber, Presto, Google Maps and Street View-
This may be more important in terms of policies, data and governance for the future of cities.