At the port of Toronto, Sidewalk Labs, a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet, has been planning a new, smart district in wood during the past years. After the construction of a five-hectare “test site”, the company wanted to build another 320 hectares exclusively in wood. Now, the mega project has been canceled.
In a statement, Sidewalk Labs CEO Dan Doctoroff names the economic uncertainty which has set in as a result of the corona pandemic, as main reason for pulling out of the project. According to numerous American media, the current situation does not give the mega project a safe and economically viable perspective. For observers, however, the end is not entirely surprising. Supposedly, there have been quarrels and differing ideas between project partners and the community for some time already.
