The Norman Foster Foundation is awarding scholarships to take part in the upcoming Urban Mobility workshop to be held at the Norman Foster Foundation headquarters in Madrid, Spain, 17–21 September 2018.

Since the end of the nineteenth century, and for most of the twentieth, monorails have captured the imagination and consistently featured in science fiction visions of the urban future. Aside from their Space Age imagery they are relatively inexpensive and quick to install when compared with the cost, time and disruption of making underground tunnels for subway systems. Surprisingly, there are relatively few examples in operation and those that do exist are conceived in isolation from other urban needs.

However, new technologies could change the reality and perception of monorail systems, especially if the supporting structures can accommodate other urban benefits such as elevated decks for cyclists and pedestrians, landscape and city farming. New generations of monorails could improve urban mobility by augmenting existing subway, rail and road networks. Because of their compact footprint and tight turning circle, they can be easily threaded through densely built-up areas. In the case of newly planned communities they open up an exciting range of opportunities in which the infrastructure of movement and the architecture of buildings can physically merge together.

The Urban Mobility workshop will explore these and other possibilities in the context of three city typologies – the high-rise, high-density city or city core, the medium-rise, high-density city and the low-rise, low-density sprawling metropolis. Respectively the three examples chosen for study are Mexico City, London and the San Francisco Bay Area.

The workshop will be supported by BYD, who will make available expertise on their ‘Skyrail’ – a driverless, state-of-the-art, straddle type monorail system.

The Urban Mobility workshop will comprise a team of grant award scholars drawn from the diverse backgrounds of urban policy, transport, infrastructure design and architecture. Grants will cover all transportation, accommodation and meals related to the week-long event in Madrid.

Students will engage with mentors drawn from industry, academia and consulting as well as representatives from the three chosen study cities. The wider agenda for the workshop will be the holistic quest for greener, sustainable and more human cities of the future.

Those interested in applying please download the application form here.
Deadline is 22 July 2018 24:00 CET.