The future of our society is the future of our cities—they are our greatest invention. In a time of climate change, the Norman Foster Institute (NFI), an Applied Research Centre launched by the Norman Foster Foundation (NFF), welcomes all those who wish, through practice or education, to improve the quality of urban life in cities worldwide. The planet and human societies are undergoing systemic transformations, fuelled by the escalating threats of global warming, pervasive inequity, dwindling resources and rapidly changing economic conditions. Meeting these challenges requires a new model for cities, as well as a different perspective on the way we traditionally face them.

In that spirit, its Master’s Programme on Sustainable Cities proposes a holistic approach through practical on-site experience in close collaboration with municipalities and the academic input from the NFF’s network of international experts. As an essential resource, the NFI City Lab provides students and researchers over the one-year course with tools and skills that can be used to address wide-ranging issues, the most substantial being the understanding and interpretation of data.

The use of objective criteria is critical to evaluating the performance of cities and charting moves to improve their quality of life and reduce carbon footprints. There is a wide range of metrics and indicators that denote if we are achieving our target towards the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Mindful of my role as Advocate of the United Nations Forum of Mayors, these SDGs are incorporated into the curriculum.

However, there is one criterion that is subjective, defies quantification and therefore does not find its way into any of the metrics—the aesthetic dimension of a city, its visual DNA. This might be the colourful dynamic of an Asian city, the Renaissance order of a classical European city, the gridded verticality of Manhattan or the picturesque alleys and plazas of a city rooted in a mediaeval past. The identity of a city is inherently linked to its history, but it is also shaped by its inhabitants, their living standards and their sense of community.

These features, together with the challenges cities and citizens face daily, are also kept in mind in the projects developed on Pilot Cities—Athens, Bilbao, San Marino, Freetown, Cape Town and Melilla, so far—although the methods are adaptable to other urban environments worldwide. For study purposes, areas will be selected in each city to raise awareness of the issues that affect the quality of life for those who live or visit them. This number of well-defined project assignments are addressed by the students working on site and in the studio, engaging directly with their planners and managers. Following a specific NFI methodology, students process evidence using the most up-to-date digital tools under the close supervision of the NFI Faculty team and present their findings to the NFI Academic Council and the city administration towards the end of the year. Successful ongoing stories such as those of Bilbao, Athens and San Marino, 2024 Pilot Cities, are evidence of the effectiveness of our approach.

Beyond academia, the Norman Foster Institute is eager to listen to city administrators, policymakers and urban enthusiasts seeking sustainable solutions worldwide. The urban analytics workflows and toolsets, which will continuously grow alongside the work of the NFI, together with an evidence-based methodology, will allow our researchers and experts to give an answer to the most urgent urban challenges. By bridging the gap between data, innovation and urban governance, the NFI aims to empower cities to make informed decisions, enhance their resilience and build greener, more sustainable futures.

This endeavour should shine a light on how to define our criteria for a new model of the city—this could be shaping an existing city towards an ecologically-driven future or guiding the creation of a new urbanity. With this as the long-term objective, the individual pilot projects will be incremental short-term steps towards that final goal.

Norman Foster