Design
When a Tech Giant Plays Waterfront Developer
A "smart city" in Toronto might be a smart real-estate play for Sidewalk Labs. And for the public?
Call it a sign of the times: At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, there are more vendors listed as selling “smart cities” technologies than gaming products or drones.
The annual mega-gathering of the tech world—which starts in Las Vegas on Tuesday—was once a parade of TV screens, smartphones, and other personal electronics. But CES’s dazzling displays have increasingly focused on cities themselves, and the profit potential they present to technology companies. The question, as always, is where that leaves people who live in them.