It’s a Smart World? An Architectural Reading of "Toronto Tomorrow" through Hannah Arendt’s Notion of the World

This paper challenges the ideas beyond the application of smart technology in the urban environment by investigating the proposal for the waterfront of Toronto by Sidewalk Labs. Although the project is cancelled due to the COVIC pandemic, it still offers a valuable case study. This paper focusses on the spatial and material aspects of the proposal. The first part of the paper develops a political perspective upon the spatiality and materiality of the world, informed by Hannah Arendt’s notions of the ‘world’ and the ‘space of appearance’. In the second part, this architectural view informs the analysis of the proposal for Toronto. The paper concludes by examining the ambition to make public space responsive to popular demand, which is inherent in the idea of ‘smart cities’. In contradiction to its promising images and wild ideas, it silences the participants and diminishes the possibility of active participation in the built environment