FAIA, APF
Urban futurist and Architect
Dr Cindy Frewen, FAIA, APF, urban futurist and architect, consults, speaks, and writes on urbanization, future cities, and design futures, specializing in the intersection of people, technology, and environment. She teaches the Design Futures Workshop and Social Change at the University of Houston graduate program in Strategic Foresight. Clients include the United Nations Development Program, UNESCO, US AID, US Treasury, US Federal Reserve, US General Services Administration, IBM, Hallmark Cards, VF Corporation, Saint Gobain, ULI, and national American Institute of Architects. She serves on the boards of the Kansas City Design Center and the University of Kansas School of Architecture, Design, and Planning. Until recently, Dr Frewen 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. In 2020, she wrote chapters for the Knowledge Base of Futures Studies edited by Richard Slaughter and After Shock, edited by John Schroeter, a fifty-year review of Toffler’s Future Shock.
A business owner for two decades focused on design, sustainability, community development, and public works
Chief architect for design and planning of the Kansas City downtown civic center and Ilus W. Davis Park, a two-block civic commons connecting City Hall and the Charles Whittaker US Courthouse.
Designed sustainable schools, police facilities, courthouses, fire stations, parks, zoos, and housing developments.
Elevated to Fellowship by the American Institute of Architects and featured in a national traveling exhibit “That Exceptional One”.
Honored by the National Association of Women Business Owners in Kansas City as their first Business Owner of the Year.
Recognized as a Distinguished Alumna by the School of Architecture at University of Kansas.
Earned Doctorate in Communications and Rhetoric from the University of Kansas, and Master of Science in Futures Studies from the University of Houston where she now teaches in the graduate program in strategic foresight.
Dr Frewen lives in the Kansas City metro with her husband Gene and a few thousand books. She recently rode a Marwari horse, known for distinctive curly ears, across the Rajasthan Desert in northwestern India. Villagers lined roads and edges of camp sites to catch a glimpse of the international riders. After waiting forty years for a first visit, the Taj Mahal was even more stunning in person. India holds the future of the 21st century in its chaotic, overflowing cities.
