Last week I wrote about the latest in a long line of studies that attempt to shed some light on how our cities work.  Most of these studies have come from a mixture of academic and public bodies however, so it’s interesting to learn that Google are venturing into this space.

They’ve recently launched a new venture called Sidewalk Labs.  The project, which is based in New York, is billed as an urban innovation firm, and it’s aim is to develop new technologies that make both living in big cities and running big cities considerably easier.

“Sidewalk will focus on improving city life for everyone by developing and incubating urban technologies to address issues like cost of living, efficient transportation and energy usage,” Larry Page said at the launch.

The venture will be headed up by Dan Doctoroff who was a deputy mayor of economic development of New York city under Michael Bloomberg.

With the urban population around the world mushrooming it’s certainly going to be an increasingly popular area of study.  It will be interesting to see just what Google can bring to the field.

They have yet to disclose any of the financial aspects of the move, although they did reveal that it will launch with a relatively modest investment.  It’s likely, therefore, to join the ranks of the moonshot projects the company has engaged in over the years.

“Making long-term, 10X bets like this is hard for most companies to do, but Sergey and I have always believed that it’s important,” Page said.

“And as more and more people around the world live, work and settle in cities, the opportunities for improving urban environments are endless.”

Certainly one to monitor with interest.