Cameron Sinclair

Since the late nineties Cameron has been working at the intersection of social innovation, humanitarian response and community development. As a designer he has built housing, health facilities, schools and implemented community-led development strategies after natural and man-made disasters. As founder of Worldchanging Institute and former co-founder at Architecture for Humanity he built partnerships and multi-multidisciplinary teams to empower and build with communities in 64 countries. During his time with the organization he helped to raise over $70M in non-governmental funding for humanitarian initiatives and oversaw the design and construction of shelter solutions for over 1.5M people.

For three years he led social innovation at Airbnb and worked on the conceptualization of Airbnb.org. During his tenure he created livelihoods for resettled refugees, implemented rural revitalization strategies, withed with nomadic populations and built online marketplaces for traditional craftspeople in Japan and Jordan. In parallel, he also ran a design agency which has been recognized for designing and building schools for tens of thousands of children displaced by war and historic preservation projects in South Africa and the United States.

He is a strong advocate in the power of community design as a catalyst for social and economic change.  Sinclair co-authored a number of best selling books called Design Like You give A Damn and Worldchanging, has taught at a number of universities and holds an honorary doctorate of Architecture. Sinclair is a Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council, a former advisor at USAID and a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. Sinclair been awarded numerous accolades including the TED prize, the National Design Award, a runner-up for UK Designer of the Year and recipient of the centennial medal from the Royal Society of the Arts.

He is visiting faculty at UIC for the 2023/2024 academic year.

He lives between Jerome, AZ; Buffalo, NY and rural Scotland.

Resume/CV