GATE Institute presents modern concepts for city ddevelopmen, based on the digital twin of Sofia, in the exhibition “Maps of Sofia”, organized by Sofia city Municipality.
The posters focus on how urban data can influence policies for the development of the urban environment and facilitate innovation. The exhibition can be viewed at the “Bridge of Lovers”, National Palace of Culture until May 20, 2025.
The exhibition “Maps of Sofia” presents a total of 60 panels tracing the development of Sofia over the years. They reveal how the neighborhoods were shaped, how the infrastructure, the transport network, the green spaces, the water and sanitation network developed – not just plans and drawings, but the living history of the city to and the future.
“The inspiration for the exhibition came from the fact that we wanted to see what Sofia had before, what it has now and what we can have in the future,” said the Deputy Mayor of Sofia for Digitalization, Innovation and Economic Development Ivan Goychev during the opening of the exhibition.
He drew attention to the fact that in order to be able to see the “Maps of Sofia”, a lot of data is needed and explained:
“In order to be able to imagine what could be ahead, we need to project the state of the air, traffic, green spaces into the future, so that we can imagine what we want from this city. We also held a competition to find out what children dream of for our city. And one of the drawings very specifically shows a very green Sofia. How will this be done? We rely on help from institutes such as GATE, whose researchers and experts help a lot with data processing, analysis and visualizations, so that these maps start to speak and suggest the steps we need to take,”.
“For me, this is not just an exhibition, but a window to the digital heart of Sofia, which I hope will beat more and more among us,” said Prof. Desislava Antonova – head of the “Future Cities” research domain at GATE, which is developing the Digital Twin of the capital.
As researchers, we often talk about smart cities, artificial intelligence, digital technologies, but how can we feel, touch and see them? This opportunity is provided by the exhibition “Maps of Sofia”. Behind every map, behind the data and visualizations there is a great journey and it leads to the Digital Double of Sofia. We started with fragmented data, with isolated urban scenarios, but now we are writing a new story that connects institutions with citizens, which connects us people.
Prof. Petrova-Antonova drew attention to how digital technologies can turn Sofia into a better place to live. Because, in her words, “the city is built not with concrete and asphalt, but with informed decisions about traffic, about the environment, about what surrounds us. And these informed decisions are driven by data”.
The exhibition, organized by the Sofia City Municipality, includes visualizations and maps from: GATE Institute, OP “Sofiaplan”, “GIS – Sofia” EOOD, Boyan Yurukov, NGO “Data for Good”, “EdnoDarvo” Foundation, “Sofia Water”.