The man behind Google’s plans to build cities “from the internet up”, starting with an 800-acre site in Toronto, Canada, insists he “absolutely” sees a role for traditional real estate developers in the delivery of digital districts.
Dan Doctoroff, founder of Sidewalk Labs, the urban innovation arm of Google’s parent company Alphabet, told EG that fears of developers and real estate companies being replaced by companies like his were unfounded. He added that rather than taking over the roles of traditional developers, masterplanners and architects, Sidewalk Labs was looking to lay the groundwork for the sector to deliver cities of the future.
“We aren’t going to be the absolute, physical developer of the vast majority of the Toronto site – or any others there might be in the future. We want to be the catalyst to the private market to show that innovation actually makes financial business sense.”
Sidewalk Labs’ first digital district will be one of the biggest of its kind in North America. Alphabet’s urban innovation arm is working with Waterfront Toronto to deliver a new kind of mixed-use, complete community on Toronto’s Eastern Waterfront, beginning with the creation of Quayside. The plan is to use the site as a test bed before rolling the concept out globally as part of the company mantra of “reimagining cities to improve quality of life”.
Previously the chief executive and president of Bloomberg and deputy mayor for economic development and rebuilding for the City of New York, Doctoroff also led New York City’s bid for the 2012 Olympics but told EG that Sidewalk Toronto was “by far the most complicated thing I have ever worked on”.
He added: “I did not have a good sense of what I was getting myself into… It is hard to explain the future.”
During his first term as deputy mayor, Doctoroff oversaw 289 projects and initiatives, including the rezoning of 6,000 city blocks, the creation of 130m sq ft of residential and commercial space, and 2,400 acres of new parks, including the High Line, Brooklyn Bridge Park and Governor’s Island. No stranger to urban development, he has been heading Sidewalk Labs since its inception in 2015.
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