Burgas: Planning a Black Sea smart city

Burgas regularly tops the list of best places to live in Bulgaria. Whether enjoying a walk through the resplendent Sea Garden, relaxing on the beautiful central city beach, or enjoying a drink and fresh grilled fish at one of the many outdoor bars and restaurants, it is easy to see why tourists like it so much.
A key challenge for the city, however, is to extend this good feeling to the off-season, when tourists are few, the economy is less animated, and the central area is almost comatose after dark. The city aims to deliver this transformation with its smart city agenda.

Brian Field is an urban planner, economist and public policy analyst. He specialises in sustainable spatial planning and development, and related project ap-praisal and finance. He was for many years the Special Managerial Adviser on Urban Planning and Development at the European Investment Bank. He has also enjoyed a successful academic career and prior to joining EIB held professorial appointments at the National Uni-versity of Singapore and De Montfort University in the UK, where he was Head of the School of the Built En-vironment. He is currently an Associate and Senior Fellow of the OMEGA Research Centre and Visiting Professor in the Bartlett School of Planning at Univer-sity College London, as well as teaching in the Geog-raphy Departments at the University of Luxembourg and the Sorbonne at the University of Paris.