Thinking about Houston Tomorrow

I have the opportunity to speak locally tonight on the topic of “Houston 2040.” It’s for the Houston Tomorrow group, which I’m pleased to be [finally] looking in to. It’s interesting, some might say disturbing, that I’ve lived in Houston for five years now working as a professional futurist, but have thought very little about the future of Houston! While I’ve always taught at the University of Houston, my primary consulting work was done virtually for a company based in Washington DC with clients across the country and globe. I haven’t taken the time to really think through what’s happening in my own place. Part of it is probably a lifestyle that suggests a move every five years or so. Hopefully, that is changing and I’m here to stay. And I think that is “on trend” in that more and more people, with the capability to choose where they live, will make the choice to stay in a place they like instead of chasing the next job wherever it takes them (me).

So, here’s to thinking more about the future of Houston! Andy Hines

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My Houston 2040
A new Happy Hour meeting of the minds
Co-hosted by Houston Tomorrow, Air Alliance Houston, and Citizens’ Transportation Coalition

Thursday, January 13, 2010
5:00 – 6:45 PM
Rudyard’s Upstairs, 2010 Waugh Drive (map)
Free and open to the public. Food and drinks available at bar.

5:30 Jaime Gonzalez
Katy Prairie Conservancy
5:55 Andy Hines
University of Houston Futures Studies

The Idea
Houston Tomorrow, Air Alliance Houston, and the Citizens’ Transportation Coalition agree that Houstonians can build a better Houston today by thinking about the Houston we may inherit in 2040 and the Houston we want in 2040. Each happy hour will include time for networking and socializing, a topical speaker who will give an informational presentation on Houston urbanism, transportation planning, culture, environment, and more, and a visionary speaker who will give their “My Houston 2040” talk:
• What do you think Houston will be like in 2040?
• What do you want Houston to be like in 2040?
• What do you want us to do to make Houston like you want it to be in 2040?
This month’s speakers
A Green Mirage: The human-nature disconnect and how Texas is responding to the challenge
Jaime Gonzalez
Community Education Manager, Katy Prairie Conservancy
President, Coastal Prairie Partnership

Jaime González earned a B.S. in Biology and a M.Ed. in Curriculum & Instruction – Science Education from the University of Houston. He currently serves as the Community Education Manager for the Katy Prairie Conservancy where he is responsible for developing and implementing public education and outreach activities, coordinating volunteers, and establishing partnerships with other organizations and agencies. In addition, Mr. Gonzalez continues to serve as an Instructor in the University of Houston’s College of Education, as a Steering Committee Member of the Texas Children in Nature coalition, and as President of the newly formed Coastal Prairie Partnership.
The Katy Prairie Conservancy is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the Katy Prairie, an outstanding natural resource on Houston’s west side, for the benefit of the prairie’s wildlife and all Texans forever.

My Houston 2040
Andy Hines
Lecturer and Executive-in-Residence
University of Houston Graduate Program in Futures Studies

Andy Hines is Lecturer and Executive-in-Residence at the University of Houston’s Graduate Program in Futures Studies, bringing together the experience he earned as an organizational, consulting, and academic futurist. He is also speaking, workshopping, and consulting through his new firm Hinesight.
Before that, he was Managing Director of Social Technologies (now Innovaro), and served as an Adjunct Professor with the university for five years. Hines enjoyed earlier careers as a consulting and organizational futurist. He was a partner with Coates & Jarratt, Inc., a think tank and consulting firm that specialized in the study of the future. He was also Futurist & Senior Ideation Leader at Dow Chemical with a mission of using futures tools and knowledge to turn ideas into new business opportunities. Before that, Hines established and ran the Global Trends Program for the Kellogg Company.
Hines is motivated by a professional hunger to make foresight practical and useful, and he believes that foresight can help deliver the insight that is so needed in today’s organizations and the world. His goal, he says, is to infect as many change agents as possible with this message. Thus, he has honed a skill set designed to make foresight more actionable in organizations.

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To learn more about the host organizations, follow the links below:

Houston Tomorrow
Air Alliance Houston
Citizens’ Transportation Coalition

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