Mission & History

+ 2002-3: Advocate

Foresight launched to tackle sustainability challenges through design. This meant both drawing upon the traditional design disciplines (e.g. architecture, graphic design, product design), as well as design as a method for engaging people to solve problems–what is now much more widely practiced and termed as “design thinking.” In our earliest phase, we advocated for sustainable design by convening design practitioners and other sustainability-interested professionals through events, book groups, charrettes, and competitions.

Highlights:

• Initiated the Chicago Green Drinks event series.
• Design charrette focused on Consumer Packaged Goods waste reduction.
• Launched the first iteration of our sustainable innovation seminar for college students, later evolving into an Urban Sustainable Design Studio for young professionals.

+ 2004-12: Propagate

During our first decade, Foresight became a hub for Chicago’s sustainability community through education programs and public events. We simultaneously honed our problem-solving methodology through self-directed projects on topics such as food access and grocery bag waste, and undertook our first systems analysis project with an external client.

One of the first innovation firms to focus exclusively on the issue of sustainability, Foresight has long been on the cutting edge of systems innovation through community building and culture change. Our accomplishments span a diverse range of ground-breaking efforts to inspire collaboration, engagement, and innovation around sustainability issues. Examples include launching the first sustainable civic innovation seminar (2003), the first sustainable business alliance in Chicago (2006), the first sustainability summer program for high school students (2009), and the first sustainability-focused Mayoral candidate forum (2011). Our project portfolio continues to evolve, but our commitment to fostering collaboration, facilitating engagement, and changing culture is stronger than ever.

Highlights:

• Hosted Foresight Green Drinks, Chicago’s longest-running and foremost monthly sustainability event, to convene an unprecedented cross-section of advocates, business leaders, students, and government representatives.
• Operated the Foresight Sustainable Business Alliance (FSBA, 2006-2012), Chicago’s first membership organization for businesses pursuing greater sustainability. Members benefited from a network of professional services, cutting-edge industry updates, tools for influencing public policy initiatives, and a community of like-minded business leaders.
• Developed three dynamic education programs: Foresight Next, the region’s first professional development program for corporate sustainability professionals; the Urban Sustainable Design Studio, a practicum in design and systems thinking for recent college graduates; and the Foresight Careers Seminar, which empowered 500+ professionals interested in sustainability to define and pursue fulfilling career development.
• Produced creative public engagement events, including Chicago’s first eco-scavenger hunt, eco-transportation show, and sustainable fashion show.
• Led innovative design projects, including a business plan for an “eco office assessment” enterprise; a proposal for a model “smart home” and educational hub for a city-owned lot in East Garfield Park; an accessible, user-centered information system to communicate the sustainable features of the disability advocacy organization Access Living’s headquarters to visitors; a replicable “corner store” model to address neighborhood food access challenges; interactive exhibit designs for the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum and the City of Chicago’s Department of the Environment; and a sustainability plan for Chicago’s 47th ward, amongst others.
• Completed our first systems analysis project, with Grand Victoria Foundation and Vital Lands Illinois, revealing the unintended consequences of purchasing additional conservation land without building the capacity to maintain existing assets. This consultation helped us validate and iterate the methodology we continue to apply to complex problems.

+ 2013-2019: Consult

By 2012, the sustainability community in Chicago had grown large and specialized while the general public’s interest in the topic waned. New events and gatherings materialized around specific issues—food, energy, green buildings—filling the niche our programs once provided.

Simultaneously, we recognized our emerging consulting practice as the engine best suited for achieving our mission, and dedicated our attention to refining our approach through impactful engagements with clients in the nonprofit, philanthropic, private and public sectors. We further honed our expertise in systems thinking and user-centered design while developing complementary competencies in the social-emotional and organizational intelligence necessary for transforming complex systems. We also made more explicit our long-standing commitment to social equity and justice as fundamental aspects of greater sustainability. Through our consulting, we are proud to have contributed to the success of projects focused on community development, energy and water, the food system, transportation, urban governance, and other topics. (See Case Studies).

Highlights:

• Facilitated the development of an implementation process for one of four new priorities within the Chicago Community Trust’s new strategic plan. (more…).
• Developed a robust systems analysis of the Chicago region’s water and energy efficiency efforts, identifying 13 leverage points for future investment.
• Synthesized the visions of 15+ organizations, five neighborhood sites, and three citywide working groups into an actionable workplan for Elevated Chicago, a collaborative using equitable transit-oriented development (eTOD) to drive a shift toward greater racial equity in decision-making on the built environment. To further support Elevated’s work, we created a set of Principles for meaningful community engagement and ownership, informed by local and national practitioners.
• Helped the Illinois Agri-Food Alliance, a statewide coalition focused on using food and agriculture to drive a vibrant economy, create processes and organizational structures for implementing the ambitions Food and Agriculture Roadmap for Illinois.
• Convened and aligned stakeholders to inform the energy and climate resilience priorities within the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning’s ON TO 2050 plan.
• Facilitated a strategic planning process for Healing Our Waters, a 150-member coalition focused on environmental justice and conservation in the Great Lakes.
• …and many more!

+ 2020-?: Integrate

We are excited to embark on the next phase of Foresight’s development—sustaining our consulting practice, while more mindfully practicing, codifying and sharing A Better How–the tools and method we use to to accelerate meaningful change.