The Norman Foster Foundation has launched its annual On Cities Workshop with the support of Bloomberg Philanthropies. The 2018 On Cities Workshop will explore the premise that emerging urban innovations can create more livable, entrepreneurial communities and dramatically reduce resources consumed by cities, in a week-long event hosted in the Madrid headquarters of the Norman Foster Foundation. 

A distinguished group of specialists will engage with ten selected students from ten universities around the world sharing a common interest in the subject. This year’s workshop mentor is Kent Larson, Director of MIT Media Lab City Science Group and Initiative, with the participation of Beatriz Colomina, Luis Cueto, Norman Foster, Anupama Kundoo, Kent Larson, Winy Maas, Leonor Tarrasón, Belinda Tato, Tim Stonor and José Luis Vallejo.

The Norman Foster Foundation On Cities Workshop will take place on 18-22 June 2018, supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, closing the 2017-2018 Educational programme initiative. 

The workshop will focus on Autonomous Innovative Communities, selecting a district in Madrid as a case-study for a research project that will be developed throughout the week.

Can each community locally produce all of the energy, food, and clean water needed for basic living— requiring no centralised infrastructure? Can humans transition from ownership to sharing, while living and working in compact, agile, supportive environments? This workshop explores the premise that emerging urban innovations can dramatically reduce resources consumed by cities while simultaneously creating more livable, entrepreneurial communities.

"We are living in an era of extreme urbanisation and rapid global warming", stated workshop mentor Kent Larson. "The challenges of both call for more than mere incremental adjustments."

After reviewing applications submitted by hundreds of candidates from around the world, the selection committee awarded ten scholarships to students from the following universities and institutions: American University of Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Harvard Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, United States; London School of Economics and Political Science, London, United Kingdom; Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago de Chile, Chile; Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, Denmark; Technische Universiteit Delft, Delft, the Netherlands; Tongji University, Shanghai, China; Tsinghua University, Beijing, China; Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña, Barcelona, Spain and University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

These ten students will engage with a group of specialists through a series of seminars and lectures culminating in a five day workshop led by the mentor Kent Larson, Director of MIT Media Lab City Science Group and Initiative, and his team.

The Academic Body spans a wide range of practitioners working in different fields interrelated with the City, including: Beatriz Colomina, Director of Graduate Studies, School of Architecture, Princeton University, Princeton, United States; Luis Cueto, General Coordinator for the Mayor in Madrid, Madrid City Hall, Madrid, Spain; Anupama Kundoo, Principal, Anupama Kundoo Architects, Madrid, Spain/Auroville, India; Winy Maas, Co-Founder and Director of MVRDV and Director of the Why Factory, Delft, the Netherlands; Tim Stonor, Managing Director of Space Syntax, London, United Kingdom; Leonor Tarrasón, Director of Environmental Solutions, Norwegian Institute for Air Research, Oslo, Norway; Belinda Tato and José Luis Vallejo, Founders and Directors of Ecosistema Urbano, Madrid, Spain/Miami, United States.

The On Cities Workshop will include seminars, lectures, one-to-one tutoring and urban architectural tours to learn more about the context of Madrid and it’s districts. During the course of the workshops, participants will have the opportunity to engage with the Norman Foster Foundation’s archive and research projects.

Nicholas Negroponte, Co-Founder and former Director of MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, United States will act as the Chief Advisor of the workshop tutoring the students through the research process.

As a way to disseminate knowledge and ideas, the public lectures will be recorded and documented for publication in series of annual books published by the Norman Foster Foundation.

Public Debates

19th June 2018, 6 p.m.- 8 p.m.

Fundación Francisco Giner de los Ríos

Paseo del General Martínez Campos 14, 28010, Madrid 

6:00 p.m. - On Cities: Governance

- Introduction by Workshop Mentor Kent Larson

- Keynotes by Beatriz Colomina, José Luis Vallejo, Leonor Tarrasón and Luis Cueto

- Debate between Beatriz Colomina, José Luis Vallejo, Leonor Tarrasón and Luis Cueto, moderated by Kent Larson

7:00 p.m. - On Cities: Transformations

- Introduction by Workshop mentor Kent Larson

- Keynotes by Winy Maas, Belinda Tato, Anupama Kundoo and Tim Stonor

- Debate by Winy Maas, Belinda Tato, Anupama Kundoo and Tim Stonor, moderated by Kent Larson

8:00 p.m. - Wrap up

Dialogue between Norman Foster and Kent Larson

If you are interested in attending please, register via Eventbrite.

All images courtesy of Norman Foster Foundation

> via Norman Foster Foundation