This chapter presents a short thought piece that frames several of the key governance challenges that cities face when approaching the Internet of Things (IoT) and other “smart” technologies. Those challenges in particular fall within two buckets: human governance, and technical interfaces. First, the chapter looks briefly at two planned cities – the ancient Greek city of Thurii, and the modern cityscape of Quayside in Toronto, Canada – as exemplifying the different layers of inclusivity that can and should work well together in communities of trust. One proposed takeaway then raised is the desirability of planning digital communities that invite active human participation in the blended spaces between the self and the world, the private and public, and the physical and virtual. As it turns out, this takeaway is entirely consistent with the notions of participatory community governance at the heart of the Governing Knowledge Commons (GKC) framework.

In October 2017, Alphabet and the Government of Canada announced a joint effort: the first smart city powered by Alphabet’s technology. The smart city was proposed to be built in Toronto, Canada, where Alphabet’s subsidiary Sidewalk Labs had partnered with public corporation Waterfront Toronto. Balancing public, private, and collective interests in smart cities is a challenging task, that is why Sidewalk Labs proposed some innovative instruments of governance and management in their city infrastructure. This chapter draws on the GKC framework to examine the company’s proposal for the governance of smart infrastructure. The analysis focuses on two action arenas: data-driven planning and the trusts.