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At a time when cities across the globe are racing toward innovation and digital efficiency, Chișinău is embarking on a path with revolutionary potential. The City Hall, through the General Directorate for Architecture, Urban Planning and Land Relations (DGAURF), has launched—under a collaboration agreement on Digital Transformation of Urban Management signed with the organization INFOERA—what promises to be one of the most ambitious digitalization projects in the fields of architecture, urbanism, and land management in Eastern Europe.

This article is not just a description of an institutional partnership. It is the story of an ambitious idea, aiming to transform the current management processes into a smart flow of sensors, spatial data, automation, and transparent decisions.

Chișinău still largely operates under a General Urban Plan (PUG) adopted back in 2007. Though ambitious for its time, this document no longer reflects today’s realities. Instead of harmonious development, we are facing a fragmented urban landscape: spontaneous constructions, insufficient infrastructure, and a slow, cumbersome decision-making framework. Urban projects have often been reactive responses to crises rather than the result of long-term strategic vision. Today, citizens have fragmented access to this information, and the authorization process remains mostly bureaucratic and difficult. This is where the need for an integrated digital infrastructure arises—not as an option, but as a vital necessity for the survival of urban planning as a rational and participatory process.

The idea of a digital twin may sound abstract at first. In essence, it refers to the creation of a multidimensional digital replica of the city, constantly updated with field data—on infrastructure, construction, traffic, environment, or population. This digital ecosystem will allow not only visualization but also the simulation of decisions. Want to see how a new neighborhood impacts traffic? The Digital Twin can calculate that. Want to verify PUG compliance? The twin will show you in seconds. In other words, it’s a shift from intuitive planning to data-assisted planning. And when planning is driven by data, speed and transparency increase, the risk of arbitrary decisions decreases, and a new form of urban democracy emerges: participatory, visible, and documented.

The digital ecosystem will enable an automated circuit, full traceability, citizen access to request status, automatic compliance checks, and integration with national registries. In such a system, deviations and errors become visible, and accountability—clear. There’s no room left for interpretations.

What does the citizen gain? In a word: access. Access to information, to services, to decision-making. Citizens will be able to consult urban planning documents, see what’s being built in their neighborhood, and take part in real—not formal—public consultations. They will be able to submit suggestions and complaints and receive answers within a transparent digital system.

This change is not cosmetic. It is structural. It can change the way people perceive their city—not as a space managed by others, but as a community they can actively shape through collaboration.

A major impulse came earlier this year with the launch of a promising partnership between the General Directorate for Architecture, Urbanism and Land Relations and the civic organization INFOERA—a nonprofit that supports and assists civil society organizations, public authorities, and the private sector in developing a digital society based on IT industry innovation and broadband communication technologies.

Based on the collaboration agreement, a roadmap was established and approved, reflected in an action plan targeting institutional and operational digital transformation by building a unified, interoperable digital infrastructure. A key element is the creation of a dynamic database (Dynamic PUG)—a Digital Twin of the municipality, a living virtual city that reflects real-time changes through the integration of emerging technologies (AI, ML, drones, RPA, IoT). This collaboration is an invitation to rethink the entire system of functional processes and digitally transform the public institution.

At the same time, DGAURF is among the few institutions that openly acknowledge that digital transformation can no longer be postponed. With leadership open to innovation and a multidisciplinary team experienced in complex urban projects, the Directorate has both the vision and resources to manage this transformation.

As a provider of digitalization solutions in the Republic of Moldova, INFOERA brings expertise in conceptualization, information system auditing, solution and infrastructure design, risk analysis, and professional education. The implementation of solutions within DGAURF will follow a systemic approach focused on innovation, interoperability, flexibility, and collaboration between the institutions that build and maintain the digital infrastructure of both public authorities and the private sector.

An internal analysis showed that over the years, many elements were implemented to address urgent needs at that time—electronic registries, geospatial applications, document scanning and storage, digital signatures, and request management. However, many were developed as isolated digital islands, without considering interoperability, data reuse, or cybersecurity. The digital ecosystem project will instead draw on best practices from cities that have successfully digitized urban planning:

Tallinn (Estonia): fully digital permits and integration with electronic ID systems

Vilnius (Lithuania): drones and AI used to monitor infrastructure in real time

Barcelona (Spain): digital twins to simulate urban policies

Vienna (Austria): full automation of the urban plan approval process

Helsinki (Finland): complete opening of spatial data and models to the public and developers

Chișinău can learn from these examples and adapt them to the local context—avoiding past mistakes and accelerating adoption.

No one claims this transformation will be easy. The challenges are real: lack of interoperability between registries, dispersed resources, institutional resistance to change, a shortage of specialists, the need for ongoing professional training, and the integration of old and new systems. Yet the approach is agile—incremental development, pilot modules, quarterly evaluations, and constant adaptation.

The project follows clear phases: digitalization of existing data, development of functional platforms, robust integration with government infrastructure, public testing, and official launch. Some modules are already operational. At the beginning of the year, the "Surface Management" solution—part of the municipal land cadastre—was launched successfully. In June, the Public Consultation Platform for urban planning documentation was piloted—an element of the citizen interaction module. Recently, the contract for developing the new Chișinău General Urban Plan (PUG) was signed, with the mandatory requirement of digitizing all deliverables according to current standards and technologies. These requirements will allow us to move quickly toward creating the dynamic PUG, based on real-time online data gathered throughout the city’s evolving infrastructure. During this period, transparency reports, urban statistics, and implementation updates will be published regularly, ensuring the public stays informed and engaged. Our goal is to successfully complete this nationally significant project by 2030.

Chișinău could thus become a model city, owning a fully digital system for managing architecture, urbanism, and land relations—not only in the Republic of Moldova but in the entire region. This is the beginning of a new urban governance model: one based on data, collaboration, and accountability.

For more details, or if you are interested in joining this transformation process, please contact us at office@infoera.md.

Article prepared with the support of the INFOERA and DGAURF teams.