Transport and payment services in Icherisheher will be integrated on a digital platform, Rufat Mahmud, Chairman of the Board of the Icherisheher State Historical-Architectural Reserve Administration, said at the event on "Smart and Sustainable City Projects in Azerbaijan" organized within the framework of the 13th session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) held in Baku, according to Report.
"We are also working together with our financial and technology partners on expanding the digital ecosystem. For example, just yesterday we signed a memorandum with Birbank regarding a fairly broad strategic partnership agenda. The purpose of the document is to gradually create a more integrated urban services ecosystem where visitors and residents can access transport, payments, ticketing, reservations, cultural services, and municipal functions through more unified digital solutions," he noted.
The chairman added that Icherisheher is transforming into a human-centered, sustainable city model: "All these projects are interconnected: 'Digitalization supports heritage preservation, heritage preservation supports tourism, tourism supports local business, culture supports urban identity, and community trust supports long-term sustainability. Today, many cities are looking for ways to become smarter, but for historic cities, perhaps the most important question is: how can we modernize without losing authenticity and sense of belonging? I believe that finding this balance will be one of the most challenging issues for the next decade. And if historic cities can successfully combine innovation, heritage, sustainability, and human-centered governance, they can become one of the strongest urban models for the future - as I believe Icherisheher will."