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Irishmonk said:
Any ideas on how to get the ball rolling on this? Tweeting Trudeau or Eric Schmidt may not be enough. Perhaps a kick-starter campaign. Any millionaires billionaires out there willing to cough up the dough to get your name on something important?
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Maybe it can be an institute, part of George Brown College? Maybe the Morneau Institute?
 
It may have a higher ed component, but the project seems even more conductive to some form of urban prototyping/advanced manufacturing lab.

AoD
 
I'd also like to add.... Save the 1 Billion + for the flood protection project for the portlands and let google figure out how to deal with it. That way, with global warming they can figure out how to flood proof existing cities like Miami, Venice and others. I know it's not on the same as ocean rising but it's a start.
 
qstep said:
I'd also like to add.... Save the 1 Billion + for the flood protection project for the portlands and let google figure out how to deal with it. That way, with global warming they can figure out how to flood proof existing cities like Miami, Venice and others. I know it's not on the same as ocean rising but it's a start.
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Actually government commitment to that project is a precondition of their investment.

https://sidewalktoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Waterfront-Toronto-Agreement-Summary.pdf

AoD
 
qstep said:
Yes, Aware of that but I was adding onto Irishmonk's dream/crazy vision.
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There's much more to global warming than flooding. Global Warming University would, I hope, be as much about prevention as about adaptation.
 
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The inclusion of a new Google Canada HQ is very exciting (on top of the already-exciting contents of this development).

I assume this means a relocation of jobs from KW to Toronto. How many employees and potential sqf could we be seeing here? Hoping for a gorgeously designed midrise with some Rogers-inspired inside-outside high tech architecture.
 
Google just announced a new office building in Kitchener too. I presume it'll move their existing Richmond st offices though.
 
Google sees big things in Toronto, and Sidewalk Labs CEO says Amazon might, too

Sidewalk Labs CEO Dan Doctoroff is enamored with Toronto, where his company is partnering with the local government to build a high-tech waterfront neighborhood called Quayside. He’s so taken with Toronto that he thinks no other city will come close in Amazon’s HQ2 contest — that is, if the Seattle tech titan sees what he sees.
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Doctoroff: “We really saw this as the perfect confluence of ambition, and experience, and location, and alignment. I gotta tell you something, that if Amazon sees what we do, it won’t even be a close call.”

Fleissig: “But unlike Amazon, they responded to our RFP.”

Doctoroff: “And we’re not asking for handouts either.
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Google plans to move its Canadian headquarters to the Toronto waterfront neighborhood as a way to bolster its ambitions to create a future cities pilot.
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When the year is done, Sidewalk Labs and Waterfront Toronto will debut its Master Innovation and Development Plan for review by each organization’s board of directors. If adopted, the plan will serve as a blueprint for the development of city-owned lands into Quayside.
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https://www.geekwire.com/2017/alphabet-vs-amazon-sidewalk-labs-ceo-says-hq2-vision-wont-even-close-googles-toronto-plan/?lipi=urn:li:page:d_flagship3_me_post_analytics;TlhH/03QSgCJ31Y8VxXUow==&licu=urn:li:control:d_flagship3_me_post_analytics-analytics_suggested_article
 
Irishmonk said:
There's much more to global warming than flooding. Global Warming University would, I hope, be as much about prevention as about adaptation.
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You must have misinterpreted my post. I was adding to your vision and not as a stand alone all encompassing solution to global warming. Although too late for the google condition for the portlands pointed out by AoD, in a perfect world you have google create some innovative solutions and fix the portlands saving Government a billion + and could fund your university. But I guess it's too late for that. So much for my crazy vision.
 
qstep said:
You must have misinterpreted my post. I was adding to your vision and not as a stand alone all encompassing solution to global warming. Although too late for the google condition for the portlands pointed out by AoD, in a perfect world you have google create some innovative solutions and fix the portlands saving Government a billion + and could fund your university. But I guess it's too late for that. So much for my crazy vision.
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My bad. I'm actually surprised that no coastal city states with lots of cash (think Dubai or Singapore) that are really threatened by GW (in terms of both heat and flooding) don't have more creative initiatives on the go.
 
Irishmonk said:
My bad. I'm actually surprised that no coastal city states with lots of cash (think Dubai or Singapore) that are really threatened by GW (in terms of both heat and flooding) don't have more creative initiatives on the go.
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I should have elaborated more. This isn't twitter :). The university is a great idea and the fields you mentioned would make it a world leader. When I see the portlands I think of what hamburg did with hafen city but there's so much more potential with the lands we have.

Please let them not waste what we have.
 
Red flags are beginning to pop up:

The controversy over Google’s futuristic plans for Toronto

https://theconversation.com/the-controversy-over-googles-futuristic-plans-for-toronto-90611

"City staff, who have noted that even their waterfront planning experts were not consulted, have recently raised important issues regarding potential conflicts between Google’s ambitions and public laws and policies. For example, the city has a fair procurement policy that would not allow it to let a big U.S. company have any kind of monopoly.

Even more worrying, Waterfront Toronto has declared that so-called Sidewalk TO will begin with the 12-acre Quayside, but “will then expand to 325 hectares (800 acres).”

“Will” is a peculiar word here.
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^agreed. Let them have their audition and after they've built (if they build), collected all the credit info, Facebook passwords etc., assess.

Wonder if there will be actual "Sidewalks" ... perhaps that assess the health of pedestrians and report.

Joking aside this seduction has no apparent legs... build the Portlands with established providers (and few international surprises).... everyone will complain for 10 years but I bet we can still source a great new neighbourhood.
 
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