Bucharest: Engaging with history in a smart city

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to look at ways in which Bucharest maintains connections with its past through technology. A smart city engages with its audience of all ages in raising awareness to its history. Prior work includes research based on the definition of the smart city as related to the future, as well as to digital knowledge and smart urbanism. The history of a city remains connected to its present identity. The approach relies on social media studies, smart cities definition, and environmental psychology. Digital technology can offer us insight into the way we can connect the past and present identity of Bucharest. Facebook pages and groups about old Bucharest, together with a project of students from the Faculty of Architecture relying on panels and QR codes with information, placed in the areas concerned, about the Uranus-Izvor neighbourhood which is now largely gone, rely on technology to make us aware of the history of our own city. Ceausescu’s building the Palace of Parliament meant demolishing an entire neighbourhood. The Results show that there is a large impact on users of all ages, when social media such as Facebook pages and groups promote historical aspects of everyday life in Bucharest. This is a genuine impact, as we can connect emotionally with people having lived in the past, through their stories. The cultural heritage policy of the European Union is emphasized through these digital practices. Among the Implications, we can see how we do not need to see technology as negative and as stopping us from looking at the world around us and walking in our city, as well as connecting to the other people. The value of the paper consists in showing how technology and history complete each other, in the case of Bucharest.