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 (twice!) and was recently honored with the Daniel H. Burnham Distinguished Service Award from the Chicago Region Chapter of Lambda Alpha International (LAI) Land Economics Society.

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. In 2023, 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.

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  • Congress for the New Urbanism, CNU 34: Panelist, "Accelerating Climate Action at Regional Scale" and "Building the Practice with Practice", May 2025

    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

    The Field Museum: Armour Lecture Series, “The Art and Science of Quick Decarbonization,” 2020

    Passive House Institute: “The World We Want Ahead of Schedule”, Seattle, 2017

    AIA National Conference: “Rethinking Stairs”, Chicago, 2014

    APA National Planning Conference: “Affordable Green Neighborhoods”, Seattle, 2014

  • LAI Land Economics Society, Daniel H. Burnham Distinguished Service Award, 2025

    EcoDistricts, Board of Directors, 2017

    Congress for the New Urbanism

    • Chair - Board of Directors, 2014-2016

    • Vice Chair, Board of Directors, 2012

    • Member, Board of Directors, 2005-2012

    • Chair, Environmental Task Force, 2001-2003

    Elevate Energy, Board of Directors, Member, 2012

    U.S. Green Building Council:

    • LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) Core Committee, Founding Chair, 2003-2009

    • LEED Steering Committee, Member, 2003-2008

    AIA Chicago Committee on the Environment (COTE), Chair, 1998-2000

    City of Chicago, Energy Code Task Force, Co-Chair, 1999 – 2001 

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Licensed Architect: IL, MI

    National Charrette Institute: Certified