After much anticipation, Waterfront Toronto has released the Master Innovation and Development Plan (MIDP) for Sidewalk Labs' controversial digital neighbourhood proposed at Quayside in the East Bayfront. The public release, which follows Sidewalk's June 17th submission to Waterfront Toronto, contains plenty to unpack, spanning over 1,500 pages in PDFs totalling roughly 115 megabytes of data. The massive MIDP is divided into three volumes covering;

• plans for the area (which extend beyond the area shown below to hundreds of acres of Port Lands),
• the various innovations Sidewalk hopes to implement, and
• the partnership between Sidewalk Labs and Waterfront Toronto. 

Quayside, image via Sidewalk Labs MIDP

The report—subject to the approval of Waterfront Toronto’s Board of Directors and Sidewalk Labs—is the result of a set of objectives for Quayside agreed upon by Waterfront Toronto and Sidewalk Labs almost a year ago. It is up to Waterfront Toronto to now determine—informed by consultation with the public, technical experts, and all three levels of government—if the project as presented in the MIDP meets these conditions.

In the short time since the MIDP was submitted to Waterfront Toronto, an initial review has been conducted, and the agency's Board Chair Stephen Diamond has posted an open letter on its website, which calls some ideas "exciting" while also noting that there are proposals made in the MIDP "where it is clear that Waterfront Toronto and Sidewalk Labs have very different perspectives about what is required for success."

The open letter identifies these points as concerning to Waterfront Toronto:

• Sidewalk Labs proposes the up-front creation of an IDEA District that covers a much larger area than the 12 acres of Quayside. Waterfront Toronto has told Sidewalk Labs that the concept of the IDEA District is premature and that Waterfront Toronto must first see its goals and objectives achieved at Quayside before deciding whether to work together in other areas. Even then, we would only move forward with the full collaboration and support of the City of Toronto, particularly where it pertains to City-owned lands.
• Sidewalk Labs proposes to be the lead developer of Quayside. This is not contemplated in the PDA. Should the MIDP go forward, it should be on the basis that Waterfront Toronto lead a competitive, public procurement process for a developer(s) to partner with Sidewalk Labs. 
• Sidewalk Labs’ proposals require future commitments by our governments to realize project outcomes. This includes the extension of public transit to Quayside prior to development, new roles for public administrators, changes to regulations, and government investment. These proposals raise important implementation concerns. They are also not commitments that Waterfront Toronto can make. 
• Sidewalk Labs has initial proposals relating to data collection, data use, and digital governance. We will require additional information to establish whether they are in compliance with applicable laws and respect Waterfront Toronto’s digital governance principles.  

To help the public digest the massive read, Waterfront Toronto is preparing a “Note to Reader” that they say will be "released shortly". The release will idenity areas of the proposal deemed of public interest, including hot topic issues like data collection and privacy spurred by Sidewalk being a subsidiary of Alphabet, the parent company of tech giant Google. Waterfront Toronto is seeking feedback from the public based on the MIDP, with the Note to Reader planned to act as a roadmap to consultations on the huge report.