The Mayor of the City of Dubrovnik, Mato Franković, participated today in the Smart Cities conference organized by Lider media d.o.o. in Zagreb.
On that occasion, he presented the Smart City Dubrovnik project, emphasizing all the achievements that, using innovative smart solutions, the City of Dubrovnik has accomplished in managing its tourism in a sustainable and responsible manner, leading to the title of champion not only in Croatian but also in global tourism.
"I believe that Smart City tools enable city administration to manage the destination on one hand, while on the other hand, they encourage maximum citizen involvement and direct communication with them because their voice must be clearly heard," said the mayor, referring to the innovative participatory budgeting model implemented in Dubrovnik last year, with projects selected by citizens being implemented in this year's budget period. The mayor also stated that the long-term goal of this city administration is to achieve that citizens create up to 60 percent of the budget through such models and tools.
He reminded how Dubrovnik's "Vox Populi" represents the first online model in Croatia accessed through a unique login via the e-Citizen system, enabling all citizens to directly participate in selecting/voting for proposed projects, not just those who attended workshops, public hearings, or similar events.
The City of Dubrovnik is a two-time national champion in the implementation of Smart City solutions. One of the latest projects is the digital Dubrovnik Pass card, which, besides breaking records in sales, enables the city administration to manage visitor flows and their dispersion. Other notable tools include Smart Parking, Bus Web Shop, the municipal application Dubrovačko Oko, visitor counters, and congestion prediction applications.