Cindy Frewen

Dr. Cindy Frewen, FAIA, urban futurist and architect, teaches the Design Futures Workshop and Social Change at the University of Houston graduate program in Strategic Foresight. She consults, speaks, and writes on urbanization, future cities, and design futures, specializing in the intersection of people, technology, and environment. Clients include the United Nations Development Program, UNESCO, US AID, US Treasury, US Federal Reserve, US General Services Administration, IBM, Hallmark Cards, VF Corporation, Transforming Local Government, and Water.org. She has presented to groups in Dubai, Vancouver, Singapore, Taiwan, Paris, London, Johannesburg, Rio de Janeiro, Washington DC, New York City, Chicago, and many others. She serves on the board of the Kansas City Design Center, chaired the board of the Association of Professional Futurists (APF) for seven years (a global organization of over 500 members in 40+ countries) and wrote a column for The Kansas City Star newspaper.

• A business owner for three decades focused on design, sustainability, community development, and public works.

• An instructor at the University of Houston graduate program in Strategic Foresight since 2007.

• Chief architect for design and planning of the Kansas City downtown civic center, a sixty-block vision and development strategy, centered on Ilus W. Davis Park, a two-block civic commons anchoring the government district.

• The American Institute of Architects recognized Dr. Frewen as a Fellow and featured her work in a national traveling exhibit “That Exceptional One”.

• Recognized as a Distinguished Alumna by the School of Architecture, Design, and Planning at University of Kansas.

• The National Association of Women Business Owners in Kansas City honored her as the inaugural Business Owner of the Year.

• Designed numerous courthouses, schools, police facilities, fire stations, parks, municipal buildings, and housing developments.

• Earned a doctorate in communication studies and rhetoric and a bachelor in architecture from the University of Kansas plus a master of science in futures studies from the University of Houston where she now teaches.

Currently, Dr. Frewen is writing "Future Communities: A Guide for Forward-Thinking Leaders," which outlines what we are doing wrong and the massive challenges we are facing, and frames a range of ways forward that embrace shifting populations, new technologies, and environmental change. Rather than looking short-term or backwards at historic patterns, communities need to embrace a long approach to more livable, sustainable, and smarter cities. "Future Communities: A Guide for Forward Thinking Leaders" addresses the concerns of public and private leaders and individuals who believe that we can create better places to live, work and play for ourselves and for future generations. People need a clear guide to prepare, optimize, and envision cities that raise expectations about what cities can be and how to get there.