DTPR History
Last updated
Last updated
DTPR began as a co-design project that was originally called Designing for Digital Transparency in the Public Realm. The project was organised by Jacqueline Lu, Patrick Keenan and Chelsey Colbert, all Toronto-based employees of Sidewalk Labs, which was an Alphabet-funded urban innovation company. Sidewalk Labs was developing a master plan for the Quayside development in Toronto, after responding to Waterfront Toronto’s Request for Proposals for an Innovation and Funding Partner.
The co-design project involved more than 150 people who were all invited to attend “design charrettes” where they contributed ideas to inform the development of DTPR. Every contributor that attended the sessions in 2019 signed a “Contributor’s License Agreement” that licensed their contributions to the “Designing for Digital Transparency in the Public Realm” project organised by Sidewalk Labs. The list of signatories can be viewed .
In October 2020, Sidewalk Labs publicly announced that stewardship of the DTPR project was independent of Sidewalk Labs and Alphabet and was being stewarded by Helpful Places and an emerging coalition of collaborators.