In the face of crises like climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, effective and positive change in cities is an imperative condition to optimising public health, social equity and environmental sustainability for urban centres and the rest of the world. A call to action against cities that have become more spatially fragmented, less environmentally responsive and more socially divided, the city of the future is one that will meet and overcome such challenges while providing inhabitants with liveable spaces and a higher quality of living. In this series of ten virtual dialogues, Norman Foster considers the past, present and future of cities alongside the following leading experts:

Alejandro Aravena
Executive Director, ELEMENTAL, Chile

Vicki Arroyo
Associate Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), United States

Ricky Burdett
Director, LSE Cities and the Urban Age, United Kingdom

Edward Glaeser
Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics, Harvard University, United States

Paul Goldberger
Architecture Critic, The New Yorker and Vanity Fair, United States

Ian Goldin
Founding Director, Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

Anne Lacaton
Cofounder and Principal, Lacaton & Vassal, France

Mariana Mazzucato
Founder and Director, Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, University College London (UCL), United Kingdom

Sheela Patel
Founding Director, Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres (SPARC), India

Antoine Picon
G. Ware Travelstead Professor of the History of Architecture and Technology, Harvard University, United States

As the first of the NFF’s upcoming digital ‘Conversations’ series, the ‘Future of Cities’ Conversations Series will soon be followed by the release of the ‘Future of Archives’ Conversations Series, which will explore the most fundamental aspects related to architectural archives and libraries around the world, as well as the ‘Climate Crisis’ Masterclass and Conversation Series, in which the imminent challenges of climate change will be addressed by key visionaries within the
field of sustainability.

The conversations included in this series are part of the Norman Foster Foundation’s Education + Research Programme and have been developed thanks to the research fellowships supported by BYD, the Crankstart Foundation, David and Nina Fialkow, the Ford Foundation, Lisa and Richard Cashin and the Rolex Institute.

The Norman Foster Foundation wishes to especially thank Bloomberg Philanthropies for its generous support in the production of this series.

The ‘Future of Cities’ Conversations Series is currently available for viewing here.