norman foster institute improves quality of human life worldwide

NFF launches the Norman Foster Institute

The Norman Foster Foundation (NFF) embarks upon an initiative in response to the growing importance and challenges presented by urbanization. Named the Norman Foster Institute (NFI), the educational establishment combines practical on-site experience with academic input from international experts. The NFI’s first program is On Sustainable Cities, adopting the objective to improve the living quality in cities around the globe. Scholars visit three pilot cities and engage directly with their planners, conducting urban analyses in search of enhancing how areas function. On top of that, the Norman Foster Institute Labs give access to state-of-the-art digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and interactive interfaces.

The Norman Foster Institute is accepting applications for its first academic program On Sustainable Cities, starting in Madrid in January 2024, register here!

NFF embarks upon an initiative to respond to the growing importance and challenges of urbanization

all images © Pablo Gómez-Ogando / Norman Foster Institute

helping new generations anticipate the future

Since its inception in 2017, the NFF’s mission has been to promote interdisciplinary thinking and research to help new generations anticipate the future. The Norman Foster Institute steps in line with these core values, putting young innovative designers and thinkers working alongside recognized urban planners. Lord Norman Foster and co-director Kent Larson, Head of the City Science group at MIT’s Media Lab, lead a body of distinguished global experts. Among the team overseeing the course is Professor Edgar Pieterse, Alejandro Aravena, Francis Kéré, and Deborah Berke.

the Norman Foster Institute combines practical on-site experience with academic input from international experts

on sustainable cities, a three-stage program

The first program On Sustainable Cities is a 36-week long and consists of three stages; Foundations, Transformations and Interventions. Foundations composes an in-depth study of the concepts and processes based in history, governance, ethics and metrics, necessary to define a sustainable city. Special emphasis is put on the ‘importance of a place’, building upon ideas of the ‘townscape/cityscape’, as well as different strategies of urban-space making.

Transformations provides an examination of challenges and opportunities for changes in each city. This aspect studies six of the fields in which a city could be defined; climate & natural environments, networks & mobility, planning & building, resources & energy, economy & social activity, and culture & the arts.

Interventions enable ideas to reduce embodied and operational emissions while improving public health, creating a new vision for the community. This stage tests a myriad of strategies for sustainable improvement in each field for the various pilot neighborhoods.

overseeing the course is Professor Edgar Pieterse, Alejandro Aravena, Francis Kéré, and Deborah Berke

The Norman Foster Institute is ‘like an hourglass’

‘The course is like an hourglass; starting wide in its scope, then narrowing down to focus on tangible issues that can be quantified and addressed, and finally, opening up to a wider debate,’ describes Lord Norman Foster, president of the Norman Foster Foundation.

The course addresses the constructs which shape our cities, such as; leadership, advocacy, communication, presentation, diagramming, mapping, and interpreting data. The scholars present their findings to the city administration and the lessons from real-life experiences presented in a public event.