<https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/may/07/google-sidewalk-labs-toro...> Google’s affiliate Sidewalk Labs has abruptly abandoned its vision to transform Toronto’s waterfront into one of the world’s first “smart cities”. In a statement released on Thursday, Sidewalk Labs’ CEO, Dan Doctoroff, said that sustained unpredictabilities stemming from the coronavirus pandemic meant that the project was no longer feasible. “As unprecedented economic uncertainty has set in around the world and in the Toronto real estate market, it has become too difficult to make the 12-acre project financially viable without sacrificing core parts of the plan we had developed,” he wrote. The sudden end to the Quayside project marks a stunning downfall to the vision championed by the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, and Eric Schmidt of Google, of a community built “from the internet up”. Doctoroff nonetheless praised Toronto as “one of the world’s great centres of technological innovation” and said the decision came with “great personal sadness and disappointment”. In a sign of its commitment to the project, Sidewalk Labs had established an office in the city, as well as a team staffed by urban planners and public relations experts, he said. [...]