Monte Esquinza 48
28010 Madrid
Spain
The Norman Foster Institute offers a holistic education programme that encourages experimentation through research and specific projects focused on cities.
The 36-week Master’s Programme on Sustainable Cities is structured across three stages—Foundations, Transformations and Interventions—with time divided between studio and field work.
Foundations
The first four weeks of the programme consist of an in-depth study of the concepts and processes necessary to understand a city. Through seminars by experts followed by brainstorming and round-table debate with the academic body on relevant themes and pilot cities, scholars engage with the foundations of a city.
Transformations
The second stage of the programme lasts for twelve weeks and is devoted to the layers of transformations of the city, essential skills and project development work. This stage culminates with preparation and visits to the cities with a focus on the scale of the neighbourhood.
Interventions
This stage focuses on the development of project proposals for the selected cities and testing strategies for improvement through hands-on technical workshops and skills courses. The performance of the proposals is evaluated through three main factors of interest: Urban Infrastructure and Morphology, Human Dynamics and Environmental Dynamics.
The programme on Sustainable Cities blends hands-on experience with academic insights from the Norman Foster Foundation’s global network of experts, led by Co-Directors Norman Foster, President of the Norman Foster Foundation and Advocate of the United Nations Forum of Mayors and Prof. Kent Larson, Director of the City Science Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab.
The Norman Foster Institute provides an official Master’s Degree Diploma to the scholars participating in the Programme on Sustainable Cities, in partnership with the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. The diploma is signed by Co-Directors Norman Foster and Kent Larson, by NFI Provost Edgar Pieterse, Founding Director of the African Centre for Cities (ACC) at the University of Cape Town and by the Rector of Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Amaya Mendikoetxea.
The 2025 pilot cities, where scholars will work on site, the 2025 programme and the 2025 full academic body list will be published later this year. As a point of reference, learn more here about the 2024 academic body.
The Norman Foster Institute is now accepting applications for its Master’s degree on Sustainable Cities starting in Madrid in January 2025. The deadline for applications is June 15, 2024 at midnight CEST.
