“Herman Kahn was a founder of the Hudson Institute and one of the preeminent futurists of the latter part of the twentieth century. He originally came to prominence as a military strategist and systems theorist while employed at the RAND Corporation.” Wikipedia
The importance of Herman Kahn for cities and towns in America is his thought process. As a Futurist, he created and evaluated strategies that addressed incredibly serious issues, like thermonuclear war. He is credited with being the originator of scenario planning; a technique refined and employed to analyze contemporary issues by Peter Schwartz.