NFI 2024 Academic Year
NFI Master on Sustainable Cities
Academic Year 2024
Shaping future civic leaders
The NFI Master’s Programme on Sustainable Cities combines a hands-on experience with academic insights from the Norman Foster Foundation’s global network of experts. In 2024, students immersed themselves in sustainable planning opportunities for the inaugural three pilot cities, Bilbao, Athens and San Marino, engaging directly with municipal leadership and local stakeholders. In the first cohort, the Norman Foster Institute and the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid reaffirm their commitment to train future civic leaders capable of facing the urban challenges of the twenty-first century.
2024 Graduates

Mhd Ziwar Al Nouri
Syria

Sólrún Arnarsdóttir
Iceland

Dominic Blindert
United States

Juan Carlos Calanchini
Mexico

Ismaeel Davids
South Africa

Nikita Dhavale
India

Mihail Dyankov
Bulgaria

German Ferradas
Argentina

Marcus Ming Frike
Germany

Anastasiya Karapetava
Belarus

Stefan le Roux
South Africa

Irena Małgorzata Marczewska
Poland

Mariana Marmelada
Portugal

Fahmeeda Osman
South Africa

Aidan Gaëtan Pelletey
France / United States

Olivia Poston
United States

Matheus Isaac Rezende da Rocha
Brazil

Ana Luisa Rumbos
Spain / United States

Uurtsaikh Sangi
Mongolia

Iván Tamayo
Mexico

Paweł Wojdylak
Poland

Daniel Liang Xu
South Africa

Marco Zaki
Egypt
2024 Academic Body
A Global Network of Experts
The NFI Master’s Programme on Sustainable Cities 2024 Academic Body, led by Co-Directors Norman Foster, President of the Norman Foster Foundation and Advocate of the United Nations Forum of Mayors, and Kent Larson, Director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab City Science Research Group, gathered more than 40 renowned experts in Urban Design, Architecture, City Administration and Government, and Innovation and Technology from the Norman Foster Foundation’s global network.

Download the full Academic Body List
2024 Pilot Cities
Solutions for Urban Sustainability
The NFI Master’s Programme on Sustainable Cities 2024 Academic Year focused on three European cities: Bilbao (Spain), Athens (Greece), and San Marino (Republic of San Marino). Each Pilot City brought unique contexts and challenges, allowing students to explore diverse urban realities and address critical issues suhc as informal settlements, climante resilience, economic disparities and sustainable growth. Divide in working gropus, 2024 graduates developed specific strategies to face these challenges under the close supervision of the NFI Faculty team.
Bilbao, Spain
Project developed: Bilbao Social Boosters
Bilbao, a medium-sized city, presents a distinctive context for analysis. The fieldwork allowed students to delve into the transformation of post-industrial city-scapes and explore the integration of sustainability principles with cultural revitalisation. Using evidence-informed methodologies, the project proposes a catalogue of social boosters: temporary, progressive micro-interventions designed to activate public spaces, encourage interaction, and strengthen community ties.
Learn more about the project
Athens, Greece
Project developed: Linking Vision, Analytics + Action
Athens, a vibrant Mediterranean capital city, faces multiple challenges, of which a changing climate and its consequences is one of the most hazardous. Through rigorous geospatial analysis of the dense urban context, an integral component of the research developed metrics to measure comfort and identified critical sites for the interventions with the highest impact. Complemented by a city-specific toolbox of pragmatic, small-scale urban interventions, the strategies focus on transforming public spaces and streets to improve climate resiliency. The research was ratified by the City of Athens through their inclusion of these insights in their 2030 Climate City Contract.
Learn more about the project
San Marino, Republic of San Marino
Project developed: Revitalise and Connect
San Marino, a microstate that is one of the world’s oldest republics, offers a composition of historic Castellis supported by a thriving tourism industry. Students had the opportunity to conduct in-depth analyses with the ambition to diversify and support local economies. The project, by focusing on strategies for sustainable development in a close-knit community, proposes a data-driven framework to compare key metrics across the neighbouring Castelli centers.
Learn more about the project
Gallery
News
The Norman Foster Institute team visits Melilla, one of the pilot cities for this year’s Master’s Programme on Sustainable Cities
On 7 February, 2025, the Norman Foster Institute (NFI) team travelled to Melilla to begin working with the local administration on the pilot research project—as part of the NFI’s Master’s Programme on Sustainable Cities. During their visit, David González Márquez,...
The Norman Foster Institute presents the ‘Bilbao Social Boosters’ project at Bilbao City Hall
On Friday 31 January, 2025, the Norman Foster Institute (NFI) team, represented by David González Márquez, Secretary General of the Norman Foster Foundation, Irene Martín Luque, Head of Research of the NFI, and Juan Carlos Calanchini González Cos, Lead Researcher of...
The Norman Foster Institute’s 2025 Master’s Programme on Sustainable Cities officially begins in Madrid
The second academic year of the Norman Foster Institute’s Master’s Programme on Sustainable Cities officially commenced this week, welcoming students from sixteen nationalities and diverse professional backgrounds, ranging from architecture to journalism. The...