Can a Smart City Exist as Commons?: The Case of Automated Governance in Sidewalk Toronto

Abstract

In October 2017, Alphabet and the Government of Canada announced a joint effort: the first smart city powered by Alphabet’s technology. The smart city was proposed to be built in Toronto, Canada, where Alphabet’s subsidiary Sidewalk Labs had partnered with public corporation Waterfront Toronto. Balancing public, private, and collective interests in smart cities is a challenging task, that is why Sidewalk Labs proposed some innovative instruments of governance and management in their city infrastructure. This chapter draws on the GKC framework to examine the company’s proposal for the governance of smart infrastructure. The analysis focuses on two action arenas: data-driven planning and the trusts.