Its stated goal was to improve urban infrastructure through technological solutions, and tackle issues such as cost of living, efficient transportation and energy usage.

[2][3] The company was headed by Daniel L. Doctoroff, former Deputy Mayor of New York City for economic development and former chief executive of Bloomberg L.P.[4] until 2021.

[7] In April 2016, The Information reported that Sidewalk intended to create a new city in the United States to test design ideas prior to real world implementation.

Branded as Sidewalk Toronto, the project aimed to become "a testbed for emerging technologies, materials and processes" to address issues such as sustainability, accessibility, inclusiveness and prosperity in urban communities.

[18] Sidewalk Labs offered advisory services for real estate developers to use technology to meet environmental, affordability, and equity goals.

The Challenge attracted dozens of medium-sized cities across the US to compete for $40 million in federal funding[21] along with an additional $10 million from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation[22] to assess road data gathered from smartphones to analyze congestion and other traffic conditions, and develop a transportation coordination platform to improve the efficiency of road, parking, and transit use.

[45] The book also included the potential real estate profitability of such investments, containing theoretical proposals for communities in Detroit, Denver, and Alameda, California.

The company has described this book as a "wide-ranging brainstorming process", and stated that most of its ideas were never considered for the Toronto project with many being very fantastical in nature and others being reminiscent of the Netflix series Black Mirror.