Norman Foster Institute

What will you learn?

Our programme

Preparing city-makers, urban designers and architects

The recurring theme that those who have experienced the Master’s Programme in Sustainable Cities—with specialisations in City Science, Urban Design and Architecture—mention is its unique fusion of academia and the experience of working in a city on live projects. Add to this the learning of digital tools to analyse and explore decision making in the civic realm and it explains why so many have described the course as ‘life-changing’
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Stage 1

Foundations

Define urban context and sustainable strategies

The Foundations stage defines sustainable development goals for the NFI Pilot Cities. This stage draws a retrospective of history and government to better understand the framework for project impacts.

Norman Foster Insitute - Students, 2024
Stage 2

Diagnosis

Create and measure metrics of environmental, social and cultural research

The diagnosis stage provides an integrated understanding of different spaces for transformation. Students develop a diagnosis of six thematic layers: climate, mobility, public spaces, resources, culture and economy.

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Stage 3

Interventions

Training professionals through three specialisations: City Science, Urban Design and Architecture

Interventions enable vision for urban strategies that reduce embodied carbon and operational emissions while promoting public health and connecting communities. 

Specialisations

Training students through three specialisations

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City Science

Lead by Norman Foster and Dr. Gareth Simons

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Urban Design

Lead by Norman Foster and Prof. Vishaan Chakrabarti

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Architecture

Lead by Norman Foster and Prof. Frédéric Migayrou

ACADEMIC COUNCIL

Meet the Master’s Programme on Sustainable Cities’ world-class experts guiding the civic leaders of the future

Norman-Foster

Norman Foster

President and Programme Co-Director, Norman Foster Institute (NFI) | President, Norman Foster Foundation (NFF); Advocate to the United Nations Forum of Mayors

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Elena-Ochoa-Foster

Elena Ochoa Foster

Vice-President, Norman Foster Institute (NFI) | Vice-President, Norman Foster Foundation (NFF); CEO, Ivorypress

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Edgar Pieterse

Edgar Pieterse

Provost, Norman Foster Institute (NFI) | Founding Director, African Centre for Cities; Professor in the School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics, University of Cape Town

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Dava-J-Newman-Potrait-Andy-Ryan

Dava J. Newman

Honorary Dean, Norman Foster Institute (NFI) | Director, MIT Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

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Kent Larson

Programme Co-Director, Norman Foster Institute (NFI) | Director, City Science Research Group, MIT Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

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Aravena

Alejandro Aravena

Executive Director, ELEMENTAL, Santiago, Chile; ELEMENTAL Copec Chair, Universidad Católica de Chile

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Portrait-Shigeru-Ban

Shigeru Ban

Member of the Academic Council, Norman Foster Institute (NFI) | Founder and Principal Architect, Shigeru Ban Architects

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Berke-1

Deborah Berke

Member of the Academic Council, Norman Foster Institute (NFI) | Dean, Yale School of Architecture, Yale University

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Vishaan Chakrabarti

Vishaan Chakrabarti

Member of the Academic Council, Norman Foster Institute (NFI) | Founder and Creative Director, Practice for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU)

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Beatriz_Corredor_Sierra

Beatriz Corredor

Member of the Academic Council, Norman Foster Institute (NFI) | Former Minister of Housing, Spanish Government; President, Red Eléctrica

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Ian Goldin

Member of the Academic Council, Norman Foster Institute (NFI) | Founding Director and Professor of Globalisation and Development, Oxford Martin School, Oxford University

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Andres-Jaque

Andrés Jaque

Member of the Academic Council, Norman Foster Institute (NFI) | Dean, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Columbia University; Founder, Office for Political Innovation

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Francis-Kere-1

Francis Diebedo Kéré

Member of the Academic Council, Norman Foster Institute (NFI) | Founder, Kéré Architecture and Kéré Foundation, Berlin, Germany

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Frédéric Migayrou

Frédéric Migayrou

Scientific Director, Norman Foster Institute (NFI) | Chair and Bartlett Professor of Architecture, The Bartlett School of Architecture; Deputy Director of the MNAM-CCI at the Centre Pompidou, Paris

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Tim Stonor

Tim Stonor

General Advisor, Norman Foster Institute (NFI) | Managing Director, Space Syntax

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Maria Vassilakou

Associate Director of City Advisory and Member of the Academic Council, Norman Foster Institute (NFI) | CEO, Vassilakou Urban Consulting GmbH; Former Vice Mayor, Vienna

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Academic Body

Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr

Mayor of Freetown, Sierra Leone

Joseph G. Allen

Associate Professor; Director, Healthy Buildings Program, T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States

Luis Alberto Alonso Pastor

Research Scientist, City Science Group; Principal Investigator, Andorra Living Lab Project, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab, Boston, MA, United States

Pierandrea Angius

Studio Master, Architectural Association (AA), Design Research Lab (AADRL), London, UK; Senior Consultant, Ferrari S.p.A., Modena, Italy; Lecturer, University of Pennsylvania, Stuart Weitzman School of Design, London Design Studio, Pennsylvania, PA, USA.

Alejandro Aravena

Executive Director, ELEMENTAL, Santiago, Chile; ELEMENTAL Copec Chair, Universidad Católica de Chile

Kevin Austin

Deputy Executive Director, C40 Cities, London, United Kingdom

Shigeru Ban

Founder and Principal Architect, Shigeru Ban Architects

Diego Antonio Barrado Timón

NFI Programme on Sustainable Cities Co-Director; Senior Lecturer of Human Geography, Department of Philosophy and Arts, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), Madrid, Spain

Deborah Berke

Dean, Yale School of Architecture, Yale University

Luís M. A. Bettencourt

Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolution, UChicago; Associate Faculty and Special Friend, Department of Sociology, UChicago; External Professor, Santa Fe Institute, Chigago, United States

Frédérick Bordry

Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Gauss Fusion; CERN Honorary Member - Special Advisor to the CERN DG; Former CERN Director for Accelerators and Technology

Ricky Burdett

Director, LSE Cities, London School fo Economics, London, United KIngdom

Caitlin Burton

Senior Vice President, Partnerships at Zipline International, Paris, France

Juan Carlos Calanchini González Cos

Academic Coordinator; Lead Researcher, Norman Foster Institute (NFI)

David Calas

Director, Studio Calas, Vienna, Austria

José Manuel Calvo

Ph.D Architect and Urban planner. Adjunt Professor at the IE University - School of Architecture and Design.

María del Carmen Calvo Poyato

President of the State Council, Madrid, Spain

Juan Ramón Campos Blazquez

Assistant Professor, School of Economics and Business Studies, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM); Board Member, People4, Madrid, Spain

Vishaan Chakrabarti

Founder and Creative Director, Practice for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU)

Claudia Chwalisz

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, DemocracyNext, Marsella, Provenza-Alpes-Costa Azul, Francia

Beatriz Colomina

Howard Crosby Butler Professor of the History of Architecture and Director of Graduate Studies (Ph.D. program), School of Architecture, Princeton University

Beatriz Corredor

Former Minister, Housing, Spain; President, Red Eléctrica

Catherine Cummings

CSR & Public Affairs Director, Sanitas and Bupa, Madrid, Spain

Raül Daussà-Pastor

Consulting Director, Anteverti, Barcelona, Spain

Paloma Díaz Pena

Lead Architect, Norman Foster Institute (NFI-NFF)

Gemma Durán Romero

Professor, School of Economics and Business Studies, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), Madrid, Spain

Eduardo Estrada Alonso

Associate Professor, School of Psychology, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), Madrid, Spain

Oscar Fanjul

Founding Chairman and Former CEO, Ferrovial

Norman Foster

Co-Director Norman Foster Institute (NFI); President, Norman Foster Foundation (NFF), Madrid, Spain

Sheila Foster

Visiting Professor, Columbia University, Climate School. Scott K. Ginsburg Professor of Urban Law and Policy, Georgetown University (Law and Public Policy schools)

Beatrice Galilee

Founder and Executive Director, The World Around, New York City, NY, USA

Beatriz Gandarillas Gutiérrez

Professor of Psychology, School of Psychology, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), Madrid, Spain

Cristina Garrido

CEO, Anteverti; Curator Smart City Expo World Congress-Events Abroad; Director CitiesToBe, Barcelona, Spain

Beatriz Gil Gómez de Liaño

Associate Professor, School of Psychology, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), Madrid, Spain

Ian Goldin

Founding Director, Oxford Martin School, Oxford University

Pedro González Torroba

Advisor to the Office of the Mayor of Madrid; Associate Proffesor, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

Carmen Hidalgo Giralt

NFI Programme on Sustainable Cities Co-Director; Associate Professor of Human Geography, School of Philosophy and Arts, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), Madrid, Spain

Morris [Marty] Hylton III

President of Architecture Sarasota, Sarasota, FL, United States

Cristina Iglesias

Installation Artist and Sculptor, Cristina Iglesias Studio, Madrid, Spain

Andrés Jaque

Dean of Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, New York, United States; Founder, Office for Political Innovation, New York, United States, Madrid, Spain

Francis Diebedo Kéré

Founder, Kéré Architecture and Kéré Foundation, Berlin, Germany

Claudia van der Laag Yamu

Professor of Urban Analytics, Department of Built Environment, Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo, Norway

Anne Lacaton

Co-founder and Codirector, Lacaton et Vassal Architectes

Kent Larson

Co-Director, Norman Foster Institute; Madrid, Spain; Director, City Science Research Group, MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, United States

David Andres León

Director, Master in Advanced Computation for Architecture and Design (MaCAD), Institute for advanced architecture of Catalonia (IaaC), Barcelona, Spain

Mattia Federico Leone

Associate Professor, Università di Napoli Federico II, (UNINA), Naples, Italy; Co-Director Urban Climate Change Research Network European Hub.

Susan Liautaud

Chair of Council, Board of Trustees, London School of Economics and Political Science and Founder and Managing Director Susan Liautaud & Associates Limited

Luis Lloredo

Professor of Philosophy of Law and Political Philosophy, Universidad Carlos III; Ramón y Cajal Professor, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

Diego López Urruchi

Associate Director, Architecture and Technology Unit, Norman Foster Foundation (NFF), Madrid, Spain

Júlia López Ventura

C40 Regional Director for Europe, Madrid, Spain

Niklas Maak

Arts Editor Frankfurter Allgemeine, Frankfurt, Germany

Gosia (Małgorzata) Marczewska

Co-founder of PLAN ZERO; NFI 2024 alumni

Irene Martín Luque

Head of Research, Norman Foster Institute (NFI)

Lorena Martínez González

Assistant Professor, School of Economics and Business Studies, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), Madrid, Spain

Gregorio Maya

City Science Coordinator, Norman Foster Institute (NFI), Madrid, Spain

José María Michavila

Former Minister of Justice of Spain, Madrid, Spain

Emanuele Naboni

Visiting Researcher and Associate Professor of Sustainable and Climatic Design, Institute of Architecture and Technology, Royal Danish Academy, Copenhagen, Denmark; Distinguished Professor, University of Seville, Seville, Spain

Jonathan Natanian

Founder, studioADAPT; Assistant Professor, Head of EDPL Lab Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel

Carmen Navarro Gómez

Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), Madrid, Spain

Dava J. Newman

Director, Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Henk Ovink

Executive Director and Founding Commissioner, Global Commission on the Economics of Water, OECD, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

David Pascual-Ezama

Associate Professor, Universidad Complutense Madrid, Madrid, Spain

Gil Penalosa

Founder & Chair, 880 Cities; Founder, Cities for Everyone, Toronto, ON, Canada

Carmen Pérez Esparrells

Associate Professor, Department of Economics and Public Finance, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), Madrid, Spain

Antoine Picon

G. Ware Travelstead Professor of the History of Architecture and Technology, Director of Doctoral Programs, Harvard Graduate School of Design

Edgar Pieterse

Founding Director, African Centre for Cities; Professor in the School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

Olivia Poston

Lead Researcher, Norman Foster Institute (NFI)

Carlo Ratti

Director, Senseable City Lab, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA; Founding Partner, CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati, Turin, Italy; Curator, 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, Venice, Italy.

Hermógenes del Real Álvarez

Professor, School of Economics and Business Studies, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), Madrid, Spain

Glyn Richards

Group Sustainability Director, Bupa, London, United Kingdom

Flora Roumpani

Research Associate, The Alan Turing Institute; Visiting Lecturer, Royal College of Art, London, United Kingdom

Susana Saiz

PhD in Architecture, Director at Ove Arup & Partners. WELL AP & Faculty, LEED AP, ILFI Accredited

Marco Sammicheli

Director, Museo del Design Italiano; Curator, Design, fashion, & crafts, Triennale Milano, Milan, Italy

Juan Ignacio Sánchez Gutiérrez

Associate Professor, Department of Economic Structure and Development Economics, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), Madrid, Spain

Gareth Simons

Head of City Science, Norman Foster Institute (NFI); Senior Research Fellow in Building Stock and Energy Modelling (Energy Institute) and Research Fellow in Evidence Based Urban Design and Planning (Space Syntax), Bartlett, University College London (UCL), UK

Francesco Sindico

Professor of International Environmental Law at the University of Strathclyde Law School, Glasgow, Scotland - UK on secondment with the Scottish Government as Carbon Neutral Islands project lead

Tim Stonor

Architect and Urban Planner; Managing Director, Space Syntax, London, United Kingdom

Amin Taha

Director, Groupwork; Tutor, ADS5 Architecture MA, School of Architecture, Royal College of Art, London, United Kingdom

Sergio Tirado Herrero

Senior Research Fellow, Department of Geography, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), Madrid, Spain

Elena Tudela Rivadeneyra

Co-Founder, Oficina de Resiliencia Urbana (ORU); Associate Professor, Urban Environmental Area, School of Architecture, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico

Maria Vassilakou

Founder & CEO Vassilakou Urban Consulting GmbH; Former Vice Mayor, Vienna, Austria

Naiara Vegara Gorroño

Vice President Metropoli Foundation, Madrid, Spain

Mark Antony Wigley

Professor of Architecture and Dean Emeritus of the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) at Columbia University

Catherine De Wolf

Director, Circular Engineering for Architecture (CEA); Professor of Circular Engineering for Architecture; Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich (ETH Zürich), Zürich, Switzerland

Daniel Liang Xu

Lead Researcher, Norman Foster Institute (NFI)

Carolina Yacamán Ochoa

Associate Professor, Department of Geography, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), Madrid, Spain

Pilot Cities

Real world impact: Students work on live projects with cities and their leaders

Applied research in Pilot Cities

NFF/NFI Alumni

Discover the Norman Foster Institute’s Alumni Network

  • Vasilija Abramovic

    Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London (UCL) Robotics Atelier
    London, United Kingdom
  • Amna AlAseeri

    Bartlett School of Environment, Energy and Resources, University College London (UCL) Energy Workshop
    London, United Kingdom
  • Campbell Argenzio

    School of Engineering, University of Tokyo Robotics Atelier
    Tokyo, Japan
  • Javier Argota Sánchez Vaquerizo

    Escula Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid (ETSAM), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid Digital X Workshop
    Madrid, Spain
  • Sólrún Arnarsdóttir

    Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London Master's Programme on Sustainable Cities
    Reykjavík, Iceland
  • Heidi Au Yeung

    University of Cambridge Sustainability Workshop
    Cambridge, United Kingdom
  • Nicolas Ayoub

    Graduate School of Design (GSD), Harvard University Re-materializing Housing Workshop
    Cambridge, United States
  • Angela Bai

    University of Cambridge Re-materializing Housing Workshop
    Cambridge, United Kingdom
  • Clara Ballin

    Confluence Institute for Creative Strategies and Innovation in Architecture Sustainability Workshop
    Paris, France
  • Maxime Baudoncq

    Confluence Institute for Innovation and Creative Strategies in Architecture Urban Mobility Workshop
    Paris, France
  • Show all
How to Apply

Admissions & certification

01

Application Guidelines

Learn more about application guidelines and the timeline for submitting your application. The deadline for applications is 1 July 2025.

Download Guidelines
02

Master's Degree Certification 

This programme is established in partnership with the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM).

Signed by the Co-Directors of the Programme on Sustainable Cities Norman Foster, President of the Norman Foster Foundation and Advocate of the United Nations Forum of Mayors, and Kent Larson, Director of the City Science Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab. Additionally, it is signed by the NFI Provost, Prof. Edgar Pieterse, Founding Director of the African Centre for Cities (ACC) at the University of Cape Town (UCT), Cape Town, South Africa, and the Provost of Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM).

03

Financial Support

Merit-based scholarships are available for outstanding applicants in need of financial support.

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