Doug Farr
Founder
FAIA, FCNU
Doug Farr is a nationally recognized architect, urbanist, and author. He is the Founder of Chicago-based Farr Associates, a pioneering, sustainability-driven architecture and urban design firm that plans and designs lovable and aspirational buildings and places. The firm was recognized by the New York Times as "the most prominent of the city's growing cadre of ecologically sensitive architects.”
Doug is a leader of the sustainability movement, having delivered keynote speeches in more than 37 states and at all major relevant professional conferences. He co-chaired the development of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) and has served on the boards of urban sustainability organizations including the Congress for the New Urbanism, Bioregional, EcoDistricts, and Elevate Energy. Doug has also been named one of Planetizen’s 100 Most Influential Urbanists.
Doug co-curated the Chicago Architecture Center’s 2022 Energy Revolution exhibit and launched Carbon Free Chicago in 2020, a 30-year campaign for the equitable transition away from fossil fuels. Most recently, he co-founded the Climate Action Museum, whose mission is to center climate mitigation in the Chicago region through education, stimulating critical thought, and to inspire and facilitate direct action.
Contact:
LinkedIn
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Licensed Architect: IL, IN, MI
National Charrette Institute: Certified
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Decarbonization for Planners, APA Illinois Journal, January 2025
Sustainable Nation: Urban Design Patterns for the Future. Wiley, 2018.
Living Cities: Transforming APEC Cities into Models of Sustainability by 2030. Farr Associates & Northwestern University, 2011.
Sustainable Urbanism: Urban Design with Nature. Wiley, 2008.
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Doug Farr is fascinated with humanity’s struggle to talk about the Climate Emergency—our unsettled emotions, how we think the world works, and the negotiation we all go through before committing to take climate action.
In this funny and provocative talk Doug shares how his own personal climate action journey led him to redo his house, stay home more, and co-found the Climate Action Museum.
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Co-founded with sustainability and business leaders throughout the region, the Climate Action Museum is an educational resource that centers climate mitigation in Chicago through an immersive experience to stimulate critical thought, and inspire and facilitate direct action.
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Co-curated with Eve Fineman at the Chicago Architecture Center, the Energy Revolution exhibit demonstrates how we can actively respond to the climate crisis by transforming our use of energy in the built environment. The exhibition highlighted the ways individuals, corporations and city leaders can work toward a carbon-free future.
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Greenbuild: Panel Organizer, “Neuroplasticity: Can Architects Fund Phius just by Re-Thinking Design Premiums?”, November 2024
TEDxChicago: “Climate action is 90% mindset and starts with a conversation”
World Leadership Congress: Guest Speaker, Loyola University, July 2024
Growing Sustainable Communities Conference: Panel Organizer, “Electrify and Thrive: Paving the Way to Net-Zero Energy and Decarbonization,” April 2024
Climate Action Museum: Panel Organizer, “Is Historic Preservation a Barrier to Building Decarbonization?”, January 2024