Smart city ideas for a medieval fortress – Sighisoara

A smart city represents a caring urban area that uses different types of sensors to collect an electronic data in order to provide information that is used to efficiently manage its resources. The smart city concept comprises six major areas: smart environment, smart mobility, smart government, smart people, smart living and smart economy. This paper aims to present aspects of the urban development of Sighisoara that can be classified in the smart city category. Although it is a small municipality, with a population of 24,447 inhabitants, according to INSEE on January 1, 2020, and has its hearth located on one of the oldest historical localities in Romania, being at the same time a UNESCO site, it has been experiencing in recent years an application of smart projects in the field of urbanism. Without going into contradiction with the medieval vestiges of the municipality, in Sighisoara we try to intertwine the historical environment with the new technologies of the 21th century based on digitalization. The Internet of Things (IoT) is already present in the city by implementing programs in transport, infrastructure and parking. Projects are underway on the construction of smart residential complexes and the transition of digitalization to industry and agriculture. The new global challenge of SARS-COV-2 virus requires a more alert development of smart systems that help to comply with the rules imposed by the authorities without creating discomfort to citizens. The smart citizen is the most important tool in the fight against the pandemic. A citizen who learns to communicate with public authorities and institutions with the help of the internet, who pays his taxes and taxes online is one of the answers of technology to the problems raised by the COVID-19 pandemic. At present, more than 7 billion euros of European funds are available at EU level for the smart development of communities. Sighisoara is among the cities that have seen this development opportunity.