Metropole Insights Toronto: A city that sets new standards – beyond technology

A few years ago, Toronto made it to the headlines of the world's newspapers: Sidewalk Labs (a subsidiary company of Google) planned to build the first Smart City there. The project should be an example how a digital city where cars, houses and other gadgets are connected is working. Algorithms would ease congestion on heated roads, autonomous vehicles would shuttle residents past wooden skyscrapers. History was going to be written. But after several difficulties in the pre-construction stage occured, the project was cancelled. 
Today, Toronto is focusing on a new vision of the future, in which affordability, sustainability and environmentally friendly design are prioritized over new technologies. With the pandemic highlighting the need for human conncections, it is believed to centre the planning decisions around the residents.