Google's Vision Of The Future Of A City On Display In Toronto

What will a major city look like in the future? Anyone's guess was as good as the other, but we may now have an answer.

Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL inked a deal with the city of Toronto to create a digital utopia, The Verge reported.

Sidewalk Labs, a subsidiary of Alphabet, will develop 800 acres of waterfront property in the Canadian city that's consistent with its goal of "reimagining cities from the Internet up." The new venture was announced by Alphabet CEO Eric Schmidt, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, among other leaders and is dubbed "Sidewalk Toronto."

"Successful cities around the world are wrestling with the same challenges of growth, from rising costs of living that price out the middle class, to congestion and ever-longer commutes, to the challenges of climate change," Dan Doctoroff, CEO of Sidewalk Labs and former Deputy Mayor of New York City said in a press release.

"Sidewalk Labs scoured the globe for the perfect place to create a district focused on solutions to these pressing challenges, and we found it on Toronto's Eastern Waterfront—along with the perfect public-sector partner, Waterfront Toronto. This will not be a place where we deploy technology for its own sake, but rather one where we use emerging digital tools and the latest in urban design to solve big urban challenges in ways that we hope will inspire cities around the world."

The initiative will transform the 800 acres of land into a "thriving hub for innovation and a community for tens of thousands of people to live, work, and play," The Verge quoted Trudeau as saying.

Although many of the details of the futuristic city aren't known, there are plenty of hints available. The city-within-a-city could include dedicated lanes for self-driving cars, public Wi-Fi, health care delivery solutions, and other advances made possible through new-age technology.

The city of Toronto was searching for an "innovation partner" and Sidewalk Labs answered the call after a "rigorous procurement process involving a number of local and international firms" was conducted.

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