On Monday 22 January 2024 in Madrid, the Norman Foster Foundation launched the Norman Foster Institute’s inaugural Programme on Sustainable Cities with an event that brought together leading design practitioners, policy makers, health experts and city representatives, providing insights and strategies for the current challenges facing cities, including architecture, city governance and climate change. With the participation of:

The programme started with an event moderated by Tim Stonor, Member of the Advisory Board, Norman Foster Foundation, Madrid, Spain; Managing Director, Space Syntax, London, United Kingdom, which will provide insights and strategies for the current challenges facing cities, including architecture, city governance and climate change.

The first session featured keynotes by Norman Foster, President, Norman Foster Foundation; Co-Director, Norman Foster Institute, Madrid, Spain; Advocate of the United Nations Forum of Mayors; Founder and Executive Chairman, Foster + Partners; Kent Larson, Norman Foster Institute Co-Director; Member of the Advisory Board, Norman Foster Foundation, Madrid, Spain, Director, City Science Group, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab, Cambridge, MA, United States; Edgar Pieterse, Norman Foster Institute Provost; Founding Director, African Centre for Cities (ACC), University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa; and Dava Newman, Norman Foster Institute Honorary Dean; Director, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab, Cambridge, MA, United States. It also included a panel discussion between all of these participants.

Following the panel, there were keynote presentations by representatives of the three cities featured in the master’s programme: Dr. Georgios Stamtsis, President of the Athens Development and Destination Management Agency, Athens, Greece; Eider Inunciaga Serna, Department for Euskera, Public Services, Civic Engagement, Agenda 2030 and Internationalization, Bilbao, Spain; and Stefano Canti, Minister for the Territory, Environment, Agriculture and Civil Protection, San Marino.

The second session included keynotes by Alejandro Aravena, Member of the Academic Council, Norman Foster Institute; Executive Director, ELEMENTAL; ELEMENTAL Copec Chair, Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile; Jury Chair of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, Chicago, IL, United States; Member of the  Advisory Board, Norman Foster Foundation, Madrid, Spain; Vishaan Chakrabarti, Member of the Academic Council, Norman Foster Institute; Honorary Trustee, Norman Foster Foundation, Madrid, Spain; Founder and Creative Director, Practice for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU), New York, NY, United States; and Beatriz Corredor, Member of the Norman Foster Institute Academic Council; Chairwoman, Redeia; Former Minister of Housing of Spain, Madrid, Spain. A panel discussion between Alejandro Aravena, Vishaan Chakrabarti and Beatriz Corredor then took place.

The final keynotes of the first session were by Glyn Richards, Group Sustainability Director at Bupa, and Bret Stephens, Journalist, Editor, and Columnist; The New York Times, New York, NY, United States.

Watch the full video here.